Capnomania, Enosimania
by EmoKidSid
Summary: This story is about random events in the lives of Cid & Vincent. Some of it's to be silly, some of it's to be rather emo, some of it's a bunch of pervy fun stuff. Will have CidOC & RenoVin, but it'll eventually end up CidVin.
1. Slightly Bemused By The Total Rejection

Ah, first submission. I assume I'm doing at all correctly, but I'll just have to play around a bit.

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

Is a disclaimer really necessary? I erm, don't own Cid, but I own his second grade personality. Also Willie Bristow.

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01. Slightly Bemused By The Total Rejection. (Cid's POV)

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The very first heartbreak I fully remember happened...well, a long time ago. Second grade.

It was Valentine's Day. The class had all exchanged cards. The teacher had given up trying to actually teach anything or keep us under control and let us run around and talk with each other.

I was sitting in the corner with my best friend, Willie Bristow. I had that awful nervous feeling in my stomach that feels like your insides are flipping around all over the place and is enough to keep a boy from the simplest of deeds.

I handed Willie his Valentine's Day card. It wasn't one of the store bought ones that come in a box of fifty and all say the same thing like I'd given to the rest of the class. No way.

Willie's was hand made, the front decorated with a rocket (above all things, there must be rockets), cut, drawn, and coloured (painstakingly, I might add) by _the_ Cid Highwind himself.

I then proceeded with the following explanation (then given in awkward-seven-year-old-speak, now given in paraphrase):

On Valentine's Day, as tradition goes, you give special gifts to the ones you love the most. Because I loved my friend, I saw fit that he should be given the best card I could possibly create. I poured my heart into that card (just look at the rocket for crap's sake!) because I loved him.

Now, I really don't have any idea if I was capable of "being in love" back then, but I do know that I loved Willie differently, somehow. More than my other friends, and more than most things (excluding things of the flying kind). I didn't think anything was wrong with that, and why the hell shouldn't he know about it?

Hah, well, judging by his confused "Uh...thanks?" it seemed pretty clear that this wasn't about to go as spectacularly as planned. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to save this from crashing to the ground in flames.

"Is something wrong with it?" I asked. I mean, come on. I'd basically bared my soul to the guy, so why weren't we running off into the sunset together to live happily ever after? That's what happens after you profess your love to someone, right? So what's the holdup?

"Well, it's just that guys don't like guys. Any idiot knows that, dumb ass," he handed the card back to me. "Here, Cid. You'd better take it. I don't think I want my parents seeing it."

Uhh...what?

"That's not how it works!" I growled back.

All the movies I'd seen, all the stories I've read...There were so many renditions of the same basic event, how could it possibly not be true?

I followed Willie back to his desk and just stared at him. Angry, taken aback, and scowling with more feeling than I've ever scowled before.

Oh yeah. Then I hauled off and gave him a good punch in the mouth. He fell awkwardly into his chair, which toppled over, taking him with it to the floor.

"_You're_ the dumb ass, fucker!" I ran out of the class room before anyone could grab me, forsaking my school bag, and making my way back home.

Stopping for a moment to catch my breath, I glanced down at the damned piece of construction paper still in my hand. How could Willie have been so stupid?

For a moment, I thought about the possibility of being incorrect. That _I_ may have had it all wrong. Maybe I'd been misled, or maybe I misunderstood something. Maybe growing up was learning that everything you believe in is completely false.

It was a good explanation, though I wasn't entirely convinced.

I felt heavy inside. Depressed and defeated. The same sort of feeling I got whenever I was grounded (except multiplied times far higher than I could count). And I hated being grounded. Grounded meant you were stuck, couldn't fly. I wished so badly to be able to fly.

I cried out, exasperated, as I ripped the damn card in half.

I would fly so far away, and I would find someplace entirely new (preferably someplace that didn't know what "school" was) where I could be able to forget that day.

I kept tearing the paper till the pieces were too small to tear further. They littered the sidewalk at my feet. And I was done with it. It was a damn stupid idea anyways...

Set on auto, I made my way home, leaving the mess behind. I wanted to get to my house before the school called my mum. Before shit went down and she learned about what I'd done, I wanted her calming hugs and kind words.


	2. BlackEyed

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

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02. Black-Eyed. (Vincent's POV)

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Before I was born, there were already two older boys in my family, and money was tight as it was. When I accidentally came along, my parents could barely afford living expenses, though they made do for several years. But when my father lost his job, the family could barely make ends meet.

In consequence, when I was about seven, I was sent to live with my uncle. This uncle had not kept close ties with the family, but when asked for help, he was willing to assist. He was a doctor - a surgeon - and could afford to take me in until my parents were financially stable once again.

It is still uncertain as to why exactly it was poor, ill-fated Vincent who was chosen to go.

Though the story suggests that it was because I was the last child, unexpected, and the sort of "odd duck" of the family. With those powers combined, that made me their choice to give up.

I remained hopeful, though. There would be no older brothers to tease and strike me at his new home. Perhaps there would be other children in the neighbourhood who wouldn't tell me to go away, but to come play with them. And I hoped that my uncle would read me bedtime stories and play games with me. I wouldn't be ignored in my new home.

But the uncle was downright cruel to me. I was kicked, and yell at, grabbed roughly by the hair and burned with lighters, held down and cut, with threats of punishments somehow worse than that.

Several years were spent like this. I had lost so much along the way - sanity, a hand, last shreds of happiness, just to name a few. I had wanted love, but was given scars, demons, and sins in its place.

I didn't tell anyone about the cruelty I'd been given until my uncle had died. I wanted to, but I _couldn't_. I was scared. I wish I would have, but part of me didn't believe that anyone would even care.

Finally, it had gotten to the point where I was going to be able to move back in with my family. I was almost excited. I decided that having an occasional beating from siblings and being ignored the rest of the time would be infinitely better than all the torment I'd put up with recently.

My uncle's reasons were never known. Perhaps he was worried about my family learning about what had been done, but he seemed to grow crazier somehow. He called me over and cornered me, muttering things about keeping quiet and pulling out a gun.

I had no time to think, let alone realize that I was about to die. I couldn't even tell myself to run before the trigger was pulled. The bullet felt like a semi-truck colliding into an explosives warehouse, knocking me back onto the floor. The edges of my vision were fading slowly to white. I was still unable to fully comprehend the situation, and it was getting more and more difficult with every shallow breath.

The uncle thought that I was gone for good and turned his attentions elsewhere. After the fact, I could hardly remember the action, but I managed to drag myself to where the gun was set and shoot the bastard in the chest.

That's what I was told later on, and it drove me crazy because I couldn't remember anything past falling to the floor.

Time restarted at a momentarily rapid speed. I woke up alone. Though it hurt like hell to breathe, I cried out for my mother. It felt like a lifetime, but nobody came except for a nurse. She tried her best to comfort me, which was probably more than my own family could have given.


	3. A Strong Urge To Fly, Nowhere To Fly To

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(Or the characters of Willy Shakes.)

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03. I Got Wild Staring Eyes & I Got A Strong Urge To Fly But I Got Nowhere To Fly To. (Cid's POV)

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I'd actually had a good day at school. A legitimate, good day. I'd gotten a decent grade on my English essay, I felt pretty good about the math test I'd just taken, and I had been given the role of Puck in my school's performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

It was extremely rare for them to cast a sophomore in the school play. But fuck, I was just that good!

I walked home as quickly as I could while reading my parts out loud to myself.

"Mum!" I called out as I burst into the house. "Mum! MAAAAWM! You wouldn't freaken believe it!" I saw my Dad's suitcase sitting near the door. Another business trip. He was gone all the time. He'd better not've missed my damn play for a damn business trip.

I heard somebody! I ran to the living room. "Dad! Look!" I followed him back into the kitchen, trying to shove my script in his face. "I'm in the play, I got in the play, Dad!"

"What now?" He set his other suitcase next to the other. He seemed really preoccupied.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream. I got cast..." I stopped jumping around and trailed off. He wasn't paying much attention. "D'you think you'll be able to be in town to see me?"

"I don't know. I'll try to, okay?" he asked and looked at me.

I nodded. "'Nother trip, huh? When are ya comin' back?"

"I'm not too sure, actually," he said.

"Lotta work to do?"

Something felt a bit off. His hesitation was too long. "Yeah," he told me and pulled me into a hug. "You take care of your mum, alright?"

"I always do."

"And work hard on your lines, okay buddy?"

"I will, Dad."

"I love you, Cid." He let me go, opened the front door, and picked up his bags.

"Love you...too..." I watched him walk out the door and towards his car. Yeah, something definitely wasn't right. Why did I have this big, empty feeling inside? "You're not lying to me, are you?" I yelled. "Where are you going?"

He pretended like he didn't hear me.

"Where the fuck are you going?" I screamed at him, watching him drive away. "Mum? Mum!" I ran upstairs and into her room. "Mum, why...What the fuck just happened?"

She didn't answer. She reached for the script that was in my hand. I didn't even realize I was still holding it.

"You got it," she tried to give me a smile. She'd been crying.

I threw the book to the floor. "I let him go..." I suddenly realized it. "He's gone, isn't he? I let him go! I fucking let him leave!"

"No, Cidney," my mum wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm sorry, Mum, I didn't stop him, I'm so sorry," I cried.

"No, it's not your fault. You haven't done anything wrong. Don't even think for a second that you have."

Sure, that was easy to say, but I couldn't help but feel like it _was_ my fault. I was right there when he drove off. Why didn't I stop him?

I cried myself to sleep next to my mum that night. She seemed to have already done her share of crying. Or maybe she just wasn't ready for that yet. She was quieter than normal, but she still seemed so strong, while I felt puny and weak.

How were we supposed to go about our daily routine the next day? Were we expected to just keep on going like nothing happened? I don't think I could've if I'd tried. But my mum _did_ try.

"You _have_ to eat your breakfast, you _love_ breakfast! And you _have_ to go to school, Cid. Just think about all the make up work you'll end up with."

"But I'm not fucking hungry, and I do _not_ have to fucking go to school."

"Dammit, if you don't start walking, I'm going to put you in the car and drive you," she shoved my school bag at me.

"You're not driving me, and I'm not walking. I _can't_ go to school! I can't leave you! I wanna stay with you." Ah, separation anxiety. I could feel the tears brimming my eyes. "I don't wanna go to school and just sit and cry in front'a everybody. That's what's gonna happen. I won't be able to pay attention. I'm fucking upset, Mum, and so are you. I need to take care of you, dammit."

And that was fucking that. She couldn't've gotten me to leave, no matter what the threat was.

I'd been thrown into almost leadership. The new "man of the house", as it were. I felt like I needed to take on that responsibility. If I didn't, I would feel so guilty. After all, it was _my_ fault for letting him go in the first place, right?

I wished I would've caught on earlier. I should've known my family was having problems and I could've fixed things. But I'd spent too much time trying to design fucken planes and crap to notice.


	4. About The Fucken Fucked Up Blues

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(Or the characters of Willy Shakes.)

(Or Mr. Keating from Dead Poets Society. Lawls.)

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04. Lord, What Can You Do About The Fucken Fucked Up Blues? (Cid's POV)

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My guilt worsened when my mum figured out my mum was pregnant.

There was no time for flight and daydreams now.

I told her I'd do anything to help. Just name it, and I'll do it, I didn't care how hard it was. She never (purposely) overloaded me with tasks and chores, but things got pretty stressful for me. (I was just a kid, after all.) Sometimes I thought it'd be easier to take charge of a team that was out to save the Planet after their leader got mako poisoning. (Why did that seem so familiar?)

Yeah, that would've been much easier than running all the errands and trying to keep the house clean.

And there was school.

And play rehearsal too. I wanted to give up my part, but my mum refused to let me do that. I figured at the rate things were going, they'd kick me outta the play and I wouldn't have a choice anyways.

"With half that wish the wisher's eyes be pressed...ahem?...WITH HALF THAT WISH THE WISHER'S EYES BE PRESSED!...Puck Highwind, that is _your_ cue!"

Shit. I must've dozed off backstage. I scrambled up and onto the stage. "Through the--" I slipped, but didn't fall (yet...). "Uh, Through the forest I have gone--"

"It's 'have I', Puck Highwind!"

"Have I gone, But Athenian found I none, On whose eyes I might approve This flower's force in...in, uh..." I looked out to the drama teacher. He had one arm out like he was holding something, and the other moving above it in enthusiastic circles. "In stirring (!!) love. Night and silence! Who is here? Uhm, Who is here... Mr. Keating? Who's there?"

"'Weeds of Athens he doth wear: This is he, my master said, Despised the Athenian maid; And here the maiden, sleeping sound, On the dank an dirty ground.' That's who is there, Puck Highwind!"

I ran my hand over my face and through my hair. Took a pointless step to the left and leaned my head back. I looked for some words to say, but there weren't any. "Sorry," I sighed.

"You do know we are off script in a week and a half, yes?"

"Yes, Mr. Keating." (Carpe diem, anyone?)

"Will you have your parts memorized by then, Puck Highwind?"

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"But it's who you are! It is you infused with your character! Come out here with me."

"You gotta be fucken kidding me..." I grumbled and walked across the stage towards the stairs. And _then_ I slipped and fell on my ass. "I'm sorry, Mr. Keating," I said when I came out front. "I _know_ my lines. I've just been really stressed out lately." I gave him the gist of my situation. "I'm really trying, but I think I'd make a much better Hamlet than Puck, with all this emotional buggery goin' on."

But I didn't quit the play, and backstage on opening night, I couldn't stop grinning with excitement. My stomach kept twirling, but in the way it does when you drop suddenly. I felt light and I wanted to run and get rid of that giddy energy that I was bursting with. I bet this was what it felt like to fly.

"Yet but three? Come one more; Two of both kinds makes up...four! Here she comes, curst and sad: Cupid is a knavish lad, Thus to make poor females mad!" I ducked behind a tree on set.

I glanced out at the audience. I'd always heard that was the worst thing to do, but it wasn't so bad. I just had to make sure I was paying attention to the action onstage. I'd seen my mum and we'd grinned at each other briefly. I didn't see my dad though, but...that didn't mean he wasn't there. I ignored it.

This was my favourite part of the play. My character's well known part.

"If we shadow have offended, Think but this, --and all is mended.-- That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear."

I was the only one on the stage.

"And this weak and idle theme, no more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend; If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck,"

All focus was on me, and I honestly _loved_ it.

"If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call:"

I hadn't fucked up yet. Three more lines. There was still a chance to crash and burn.

"So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends."

I bowed gracefully as the curtain came down and the applause started.

I didn't fuck up.


	5. Crack In The Sky & A Hand Reaching Down

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(But I gots Michael & Patrick!)

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05. A Crack In The Sky & A Hand Reaching Down To Me. (Vincent's POV)

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I was fourteen years old. My parents had dropped me and my brothers off at the pool. I was much too shy and embarrassed to put on my swimming trunks and go swimming in front of all those people. I've never much liked the sun either, so I retreated as far off into the shade as I could, and sat.

At some point, I watched my brothers leave the pool and head toward the refreshment stand. Michael swatted Patrick in the back of the head. I assumed it was because Patrick had ordered two popsicles. I ignored them and probably went back to daydreaming.

"Yo, Vince!"

I was momentarily confused. I had barely ever been referred to as anything other than "Vicky" or "freak" or something cruel like that. It was strange to be called by my actual given name. I looked up to see Patrick holding out his second popsicle.

"Do you want it or not, Vincent?" he asked me.

I nodded and reached up hesitantly. It wouldn't have surprised me in the least if he jerked it away at the last minute. He would call me a sucker and run off laughing. He didn't though.

I took the popsicle and inspected the package for any tampering. "Stop being picky. Just eat it, okay?" He sounded annoyed, but he sat down in the chair next to mine.

I was uncertain as to whether or not I should thank Patrick. I felt I owed him no thanks for anything, and I had every reason to wonder if he had an ulterior motive. I also knew that if I did the polite thing, that would make me all that much better than him. God knows he's never thanked me for anything before. I decided to say it.

He only shrugged. I doubt he even cared.

Michael was making his way toward us. The lifeguard yelled at him to stop running, which made Patrick and me laugh. I expected to be punched for making fun of Michael, but he just gave us a disapproving look and sat.

The following minutes were quiet between the three of us. It was one of the only moments I can recall when somebody wasn't arguing or being picked on.


	6. It Feels Like My Fetus Is Kickboxing

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(But Cid's mum is mine, and Ex-Caroline, and the fetus!)

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06. It Feels Like My Fetus Is Kickboxing — Is It Ok? (Cid's POV)

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"Cidney, that doesn't have to be damn perfect. Just regular perfect," my mum came into the living room where I was folding laundry.

"Yes it does have to be damn perfect," I insisted.

She gave me a kiss on the head and sat down on the couch to watch television. My brother was due in about three months. I was worried about it. Around this time in my mum's last pregnancy, she went into labour.

I had a little sister, Caroline. She only lived for a couple weeks.

I was about three years old. I don't remember any details. Just flashes of blurry images and the feeling of sadness clinging to everyone, covering everything like a huge, heavy blanket of lead.

I didn't want it to happen again. I didn't ever dare bring it up.

"Oh! Ugh, he's kicking me," she laughed. "Do you wanna feel yet?"

I never wanted to feel. But I gave in this time. She guided my hand to where the foot was pushing against her stomach. I think I frowned a bit.

Why was this particularly exciting? I knew it was _supposed_ to be. Everybody gets so worked up about a baby kicking. It was kicking from the inside now. It'll just kick from the outside later on. Frankly, I thought it was kinda creepy. I just didn't understand it. I told her all that.

"Well, I guess maybe it's just one of those things you have to be a parent to understand. When you get older and have your own children, you'll get it," she explained.

I frowned again. I took my hand back and sat next to her, resting my head against her shoulder. Quite a while had gone by before either of us spoke again.

"Hey Mum? I don't think I'm going to have kids when I grow up."

"Oh really? Why's that?"

"Cos, well, I'm gay, Mum."

"There's always adoption, you know," she leaned her head against mine.

"I guess... Wait. You're not upset?"

She laughed lightly. "Of course not. I was wondering when you were gonna get up the courage to tell me."


	7. Like An Endless Foreign Flick

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(But Nick Hendricks is mine, the bastard!)

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07. I Professed My Love In An Animalistic Manner Like An Endless Foreign Flick: My Subtitles Were Sick. (Cid's POV)

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Sixteen and still hadn't found a decent boyfriend. Pathetic.

Yeah, yeah. I know it. Don't say it...

Look, you can talk till you're blue in the face about being young and having the rest of your life ahead of you to find a boyfriend. It won't convince _any_ kid, and it certainly doesn't help self-esteem at all.

I'd just entered the home of Nickolas Hendricks, my science partner. We were trying to prepare ourselves for spending many long evenings working on our project. (Our project that was worth 50 of our science grade, no less!)

I sat myself down on Nick's bedroom floor and listened as he read off the list of possible project topics.

"The mathematics of snowflakes."

"The what the fuck?"

"Observations of urban wildlife."

"Meh."

"Study of a shoreline."

"Where? Where is the goddamn shoreline we're supposed to study? Like hell I'm gonna scrape up enough gil to go to Costa for a _project_."

"Can household compounds, such as tea, be used to promote good health in plants."

"No, that seems like such a waste."

"Effects of cigarette smoke on the growth of plants."

"I can do _that_ one!"

So we walked to the store and bought several different kinds of the cheaper flowers. (I hoped we wouldn't end up killing the plants. I'd kinda feel like a murderer.) We then spent a good amount of gil on Lucky Strikes (and a good amount of time snickering about the brand of cigarettes called "Cockstrong").

More thought than was probably necessary went into naming our test babies. The blue flower was Frank Awesomington. The yellow one, we named Audrey III. Pink was Cthulhu (he was the gay one). And the purple, Calvin (come to think of it, he was probably going to end up gay too...)

And we sat and watched television all day, taking turns to get up and smoke at the plants every hour or so, making note of the times. We were having a fairly good time, engaging in entertaining but pointless banter and happily figuring out that we pretty much enjoyed watching the same shows (because it sucks to have to sit through a half hour of fuckery you can't stand).

But then the conversation took a turn for the interesting when Nick asked "Hey, you _are_ gay, right?"

I paused. "...Why?"

But he pushed the question. "Well, are you, or aren't you?"

I answered reluctantly. "...Ahh, yeah, why?" He wouldn't beat me up over it...would he?

He started to say something, but stopped himself, and decided on something else. "No reason, really. Just wondering if it was true." He turned his attention back to the television, probably hoping that didn't just happen. So I tried to focus on the screen too. Till the next advert, at least.

"Are you?"

My question caught him off guard.

He stumbled through a response. "No. I mean, I'm not sure, really. Maybe. I don't know..." His cheeks had turned bright red. It was kind of...cute. "Well what I really wanted to ask you in the beginning when I brought it up was, if you wanted to, and you can say no, but you could stay the night here tonight, and maybe we could, ya know, try things."

Damn. Calm down, Run-On-Sentence.

"_Things_?" I pressed, raising an eyebrow. I was curious to know what kind of "things" I could be getting myself into that night.

"Yeah, ya know, like kissing, or..." His mouth seemed to have gone dry. He swallowed and continued, his voice wavering. "Or something..."

He looked horrified. Like I might suddenly attack and try to garrote him or something. My thoughts turned dirty, filled with the possibilities. I felt a grin coming on, but I kept it to a smirk (which I hoped made me look _incredibly_ sexy), and answered. "Yeah. Sure."

It may have sounded calm, but I was nervous as all hell. Maybe even a little bit scared. But I tried to let the excitement take over those other feelings.

Dinner came and went, evening turned to night, and Nick's family had gone to their respective bedrooms.

I sat at the window, working on the latest plant cig, thinking of what affect it would have if we actually put them out in the soil (as well as thinking of something else that was far more important). "So, you still up for some a'those _things_ tonight?" I had to do it. I had to ask, because I wasn't so sure Nick would ever bring it back up.

"Yeah, I think so..." His face was red again. I liked that for some reason. I couldn't help but wonder if his cheeks would stay ruddy like that throughout the coming events of the night. I hoped so.

"Have you ever done anything like this before?" he asked me.

I closed my eyes and took a drag of my cigarette. Fuck, I hoped that colour stayed.

"Aside from kissing, not a thing. So don't worry 'bout actin' silly, cos I'm not gonna be doing any better," I told him. I caught his gaze for a second, before he glanced away. His eyes were blue. Dark, though. Kinda pretty.

He wasn't gorgeous, but he was far from unattractive. Funny, I hadn't really noticed it before. Maybe he was looking more and more enticing by the minute simply cos I knew I was gonna get him naked in a few minutes. And after that, if he's as vulnerable and scared as he seemed at that moment...

Alright.

I stamped my cigarette into Cthulhu's dirt.

No turning back now. I doubt my body woulda let me anyway. I certainly wasn't thinking with my brain just then.

I sat on my knees in front of him, one knee on either side of his legs. So close. Maybe a little _too_ close to start out with. "How far d'you wanna go?" I asked, giving in to the urge to touch the sides of his face.

"I...I don't know..." he wasn't hiding his anxiousness well, if at all.

I wasn't really paying attention to words. "Okay." I tilted his head up and leaned down to kiss him. He tensed and sorta struggled with it at first, but seemed to calm down soon after, getting the hang of things and allowing his hands to wander a little.

The kissing felt excellent. The touching was good. Very good. But I wanted more. I wanted skin. Wanted to feel more of him. Have him all to myself. I was pulling his shirt off, kissing at his neck, and working on getting into his pants before he even started on my clothes.

"Stop, wait," he asked as soon as I managed to unzip his jeans.

"Huh? What is it?" Fucken hell. He couldn't tell me to stop now. I was so damn far from "stop".

"Just...just wait a second." So I waited while Nick got my shirt up over my head and onto the floor. His fingers worked at the buttons on my pants and I pressed my cheek to his, so hot to the touch. "Okay," he said quietly. "I'm ready again."

The interruption had thrown me off a bit. I paused for a moment more and laughed a little. "I'm really not too sure how to go about this," fiddling with his hair, "So I'm just gonna run with somethin', arright?" Eh, I never expected this to be a glamourous affair.

He made some sorta mumbling noise of agreement. Good enough. I pushed him so he was laying on the bed (though "pushed" sounds so violent. But it wasn't like that! I swear I was playing nice), and let my fingers, lips, and tongue go where they wanted. They led me back down to Nick's pants, unbuttoned but still waiting to be removed. "Can I?" I almost didn't think to ask.

Nick sat up again before he answered. "Yeah, but you have to too."

Ah, the moment of truth. I had talked my immediate fear of "Please, God, please have created me adequately. Please let me at least look somewhat decent" down to just "Please". Please...anything good. Maybe we shoulda turned the light off...

I got up and started to tug my pants down, hesitating only until he was standing next to me, doing the same. The both of us, we just sorta stood there, unsure again about what to do next. It was actually Nick who made the next move.

Stepping toward me, he put his hand on my chest, and leaned in to kiss. He stopped short though, waiting for approval. The frightened look in his eyes and the unsure smile that tugged at his lips made me want to just take advantage of him in the worst way. (That's a bad thing, isn't it?)

Sometime during the kiss, all space between us seemed to disappear. (Oh God...) His cheek wasn't the only part of him that felt hot when I was pressed against it. "Bed, Nick. On the bed." I think I was almost growling by this point. (And I imagine it was difficult to move back to the bed with me still attached to him.) My fingers, lips, & tongue picked up right where they had left off, with no more obstructions to hold them back.

Yeah, I was really liking this. If I ran my tongue across, right there, and if I touched him just like that, I could make him gasp and moan and squirm. I could make him do these things! Now how much could I fit in my mouth without gagging? Hm, _that_ much. Was that enough? Well, I was just gonna have to work with it.

It's funny how expressions of pain and pleasure look so similar. (Er, I guess "funny" isn't _quite_ the right word...) And it worried me. But when I took my mouth from Nick to ask if this was still okay with him, he tried to guide my head back to him and told me to keep going.

So I did as I was told, to the best of my ability. (Which wasn't that much, seeing as the only practice I'd had was with things like popsicles and with trying to reach my own dick in an arduous attempt at giving myself a blowjob.) But also, seeing as I was a boy, I pretty well knew what would make other boys feel good.

Nick's hands were pushing my head down just a little too hard. But I tried to ignore it. I focused more on not choking when his cum shot down my throat. I tried to spit out the rest before it got too far down my throat, while trying to keep sucking him off, and trying to keep the coughing to a minimum. That was...not too pretty.

I sat up and wiped at my mouth, hoping Nick wouldn't be too freaked out to let me have a turn. "Your face is still all red," I grinned like an idiot. "It's not bad. It's cute. I like it." Why should he care?

"Oh." He put his hand to his face. "You want me to, ah..."

I nodded a little. "Yeah, but if it really bugs ya..."

"No. Switch places."

I lay down on the pillow and spread my legs a bit. This was a little more embarrassing than actually _giving_ the head for some reason. But fuck if it didn't feel good.

I needed something to do with my hands. I didn't want to shove his head down like he did mine. But I couldn't just keep them still. I held one hand to my mouth, the part between my thumb and forefinger between my teeth. The other hand, I ran lightly across my stomach. It was tempted to move upward and play with other sensitive areas, but I felt a little weird about that. So it ended up on the bed, grabbing at the sheets.

"Oh, fuck _please_ keep--gah! Yes, that, whatever it is you're doing, oh, fuck," I bit my hand again to shut myself up. He kept up with that, whatever it was he was doing, and I completely lost it. "Oh God, stop, stop," I swatted blindly at his head when I'd finished.

"Was that okay?" he asked, swiping his hand over his mouth.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Yeah," he nodded.

From there, we had the several months until our project was due to practice and we both improved over time. I even let him fuck me. Once. I did all the fucking after that.

But when we'd turned the project in, what did that mean? Nick and I didn't mention anything about it at school, but I called him up that Friday. I asked if he wanted to stay the night at my place, even though we didn't have any more work to do. He said he had family plans. And Saturday, he had to take care of his cousins.

Well, that was okay. I could just stay in and jerk off all weekend. I was fine with that. But those things kept happening. He always had one thing or another to do. I finally began to realize he was probably avoiding me on purpose. Soon after, it became a well known fact around school that Nick was now going out with one of the more popular girls.

I was furious. I was just some sorta experiment for him to try and in the end, he just ignored me.

So I handled it the best way I knew how: I beat his ass after school.


	8. It Was Impolite To Stare, So

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

-------------------------

08. My Mother Always Told Me It Was Impolite To Stare...So What Do You Say We Dance?. (Vincent's POV)

-------------------------

He said he was running out of decent places to sit, when he came across a boy sitting by himself in the corner of the room.

My lunch wasn't really holding much interest for me. I was more than likely just staring off.

He said I had this look on my face that was frustrated and sad. He said it sort of made his stomach ache, "just seein' the poor kid like that." He came and stood in front of me, and asked if I would mind if he sat with me.

I tried to hear him. I wanted to answer.

He said he thought maybe I was deaf, "y'know", so he started signing and asked me again.

I was finally able to look at him and I asked, "What did you say?" So he asked again.

I glanced down at my hands. "If you really want to..."

"Hey, you okay?" Again, he had to wait for a response. "Hellooo? Are you doin' okay?"

"Hm? Oh. Yes."

"'Kay. Well, I'm Cid Highwind. I don't really know anyone here to hang out with. Only been here about a month or so. I thought you looked like you might want someone to sit with."

I squeezed my eyes shut and put my hand to my forehead and pressed, as if I were trying to get rid of a headache. "I don't know anyone either. I never know anyone."

"Hmm. You know me now."

"I suppose I do."

"But...I don't know you." He tried to get the conversation going somewhere.

"I suppose you don't." I laid my head on the table and pushed my palms to the sides.

"D'you need some Advil or somethin', Sunshine?"

Sunshine? I understand. I'm in pain. Was that irony? Or sarcasm? The two confuse me. I had no room to think about it though. And now I felt terrible for acting like this. I'm sure Cid was annoyed.

"No, it's not like that..." I groaned as I held my head.

"Right, well, lemme know if you wanna, ya know, tell me your name or be social or somethin'. I'm gonna eat my sammich now." So he did that for a while. "You gonna eat your chips, Damien?"

Damien? So now I was the anti-Christ? It was the black hair, wasn't it?

Oh well. I would come to love it later. I scooted the chips across the table without lifting my head.

It was a good five minutes or so before he thought of something to say. "Hey, uh, Spookie? Aren't you gonna eat anything at all?"

I smiled to myself a little. I kind of liked "Spookie." And my head was beginning to clear up some. I sat up and shook my head in response to his question. "Vincent Viktoryn Valentine."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he snickered.

"No."

"That's fucking awesome."

"It's a cruel running joke, is what it is..." I leaned back in my seat and poked at my otherwise untouched sandwich.

"So, Spookie, why'd you buy a lunch if ya weren't gonna eat it?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Why did you ask for my name if you weren't going to use it?"

"Touche."

"I apologize for my aberrant behaviour earlier, Cid Highwind," I said.

"Feeling better now?" he asked me.

"I believe so, thank you."

"What happened?" he ventured.

I hid my metal hand under the table when I noticed him glancing at it. "It's a rather personal issue, Cid Highwind. I'm not sure if twenty minutes together at a lunch table is sufficient enough for it to be an appropriate conversation."

"How 'bout twenty five?" he grinned, trying to turn on his charms, as he called it. I stayed quiet for a while, just staring at him, mulling it over. "You keep thinkin', okay? I'm gonna go buy something to drink," he informed me. "I'll get you somethin' too."

"Thank you, Cid," I said when Cid came back to the table. "Alright, I'll tell you, and I won't be offended if you want to leave."

"Leave?" He raised an eyebrow, like he tends to do.

I leaned in on the table and waited for Cid to do the same before continuing. "There are voices...demons in my head. There are four of them. And especially that one, Chaos, he won't leave me alone sometimes. They all keep yelling and talking to me and to each other. It fills my head up, and it's difficult to focus on anything else, because it's all I can hear. It really gives me a headache..."

I felt terribly insecure. "I suppose that's about it. You're welcome to leave if you want to."

Though he wasn't going anywhere. "No, but...why? What do they say?"

I sat back a little and chewed on a finger nervously. "Anything they want to, really. They're vicious and cruel. Most of it is them telling me I'm inhuman, a worthless failure of a creature. They tell me I don't deserve to live and they've tried to get me to kill myself. They hate it when I'm happy, and they laugh at me when I'm upset."

I scrunched my nose a bit. "Sometimes they talk about the bloody weather, or a movie I've watched, anything. Yes, I'm on medication for it."

"Do they look like anything?" Cid asked.

"Yes. They frighten me. I've tried to draw them, but I don't have the pictures with me right now." I was now fidgeting with my hair. "Are you seriously not bothered by this? I'm not trying to make you stay."

He told me that he was genuinely interested and that he liked hearing about all this, but I took up his offer to change the topic. He said he didn't want to make me uncomfortable or anything. It was strange having the way I felt taken into consideration, but I certainly wasn't complaining.


	9. I Submit My Incentive Is Romance

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

-------------------------

09. I Submit My Incentive Is Romance. (Cid's POV)

-------------------------

Vincent and I had spent several weeks hanging out before and after our classes. We were where we usually were, sitting outside, working on homework.

"Hey Damien. You ever read this crap?" I was struggling through Catcher In The Rye. I'd been excited about reading it, but so far, it was sorely disappointing.

I should've known by then that it wasn't unusual for Vincent to not answer me. I looked over to make sure he was still alive.

"Are you upset I keep calling you names?" I asked. He had his head leaned back and his eyes shut tight.

"They're loud..." he said after a while. He straightened up & finally looked at me.

"Can I do anything?" I offered, but he shook his head.

"No thank you. I haven't found anything that helps."

"Here..." I reached into my pocket for my ipod. "Maybe this'll work a little." I sat in front of him and slipped the headphones in his ears. "Comfy?"

"No."

So I leaned over to adjust them better, getting rather close to him. "Feel better?" I asked.

"Yes..." He shifted his face just a tiny bit closer to mine.

And then I went with my first reaction. I pressed my lips to his, for just a minute, before pulling away & sitting back in my original spot.

"Sorry..." I laughed nervously and scratched my head. "Uh, let's see... White Stripes, The Cure, Placebo, 311, Get Up Kids, or The Transplants?" I scrolled through the playlist.

"The Cure is fine..." he said quietly, focusing on his hands.

"Shit," I cursed, noticing what time it was. "I have to get home to watch my brother."

"Oh..." he said in an even quieter voice. He looked almost defeated. It was kinda sad.

I didn't know quite what to say for a minute. I had the feeling that he thought he'd fucked up and I was gonna leave him cos of it. "You keep this for a while," I pressed play & handed him the ipod. "Maybe it'll help ya ignore those ghoulies in your head a little." I stood up & put my backpack on. "See ya tomorrow then?"

He smiled and nodded, and we said our goodbyes.

The next day, I waited for him in our usual spot. I was kinda worried that he wouldn't come, but I tried to preoccupy myself with that damn book I was supposed to read.

"Good afternoon, Cid Highwind."

I looked up to see Vincent had indeed decided to meet up with me that day.

"Thank you," he handed the ipod back to me. "For letting me borrow this." He looked a little concerned. "Although, I'm very sorry. The batteries have run out."

I shoved the thing in my pocket & smiled at him. "Aw, don't worry 'bout it. It doesn't take that long to charge."

He sat down next to me, looking significantly relieved.

It wasn't a terribly awkward quiet, but it was quiet. For quite a while.

"It wasn't bad, was it?"

"Huh? What wasn't?" I asked, hating that damn book more and more with every word.

"When we kissed yesterday. Was that a bad thing?" he asked.

"No," I grinned and set the book down. "I was thinkin' about it all last night." Yeah, I thought about it. Twice, in fact. Once in the shower, and once before I went to bed.

"Me too," he admitted, a shy smile tugging at his lips. "Then maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I asked to do it again?"

I didn't answer, just kissed him again. Except it was better this time. Longer. And with a little less awkward and a little more tongue.


	10. Prettiest Mouth I Wanted To Come Across

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(But I do own Mattie!)

(Oh and by the way, since Mattie's mostly deaf (cos he's cool like that : ) ), whenever somebody's using sign language, _it'll be underlined and italicized, yo_.)

-------------------------

10. You Got The Prettiest Mouth I've Ever Wanted To Come Across. (Cid's POV)

-------------------------

The doorbell! Shit. Did I look alright? (Why did I have to go back to that thought again?) I quickly checked myself in the mirror, trying to rough up my hair to an acceptable scruff, and ran to the top of the stairs. I heard the front door open.

I didn't, however, hear the first part of the conversation, though it probably went along the lines of a stammered "Hi. Is Cid home?" I figured that because my mum responded with "Yes, he should be down in a minute. You must be Vincent?"

I couldn't help but start grinning. Vincent was at my house! I ran down the stairs, stopping again just before I got to the kitchen, catching the last bit of what Vincent was saying.

"If it's okay with you...I don't really like to talk about it..." Probably trying at all costs to avoid eye contact. I assumed my mum had asked about his metal hand. Hell, he hadn't even told _me_ why had it. I knew my mum wouldn't press the subject, but I thought it would be a good time to go in.

I hung out with him almost every day. I shouldn't've been so nervous.

"Hi Vinny!" I nearly bounded into the room.

"Hullo Cidney," he smiled shyly and gestured to his head. "No?"

Huh? Oh, right. My aviator goggles weren't in their usual place. "Yeah, my brother has 'em. Come on, you gotta meet him!"

I was dragging him out of the room, only pausing briefly when my mum asked "Cidney _did_ mention that you two are babysitting tonight, right?" She stared right at me as she said this. I glared back at her in mock anger.

"Yes ma'am, he did. I--gah!" I continued hauling Vinny to Mattie's room.

"Hey Monkey!" I called loud enough so my brother could hear me and sat down by him, adjusting the goggles so they would maybe stop falling off his head. _"This is my friend. His name is Vincent,_" I signed as I spoke. I spelled the name slowly, but he couldn't follow & asked me to say it louder. "VINCENT!" I shouted.

Vincent jumped when I yelled out his name, having no idea what my brother had just said to me.

Mattie stuck his bottom lip between his teeth and made a sort of "Nngh!" noise that sounded nothing like the name "Vincent".

"_Good. That's close,_" I told him, and asked "_Your name is what?_"

"_My name is Monkey,_" he signed excitedly and shouted "BAM!"

"_Yes, Monkey. But your other name is what?_" I asked, saying it aloud so Vincent could understand. My brother furrowed his brow as he said "Oh," and puffed out his cheeks and signed "_My name is Mattie_" , after which, I showed Vinny how to sign "_Nice to meet you_". Following that, I translated conversation between the two.

"_Do you like airplanes, Vinny?_

_Yes._

_Me too. Cid's going to learn how to fly and then he's going to teach me how and it's going to be so cool! Your favourite colour is what?_

_Uhh..._

_I like green. Do you want to play with my trains?_"

And so we passed the evening, building elaborate tracks to run fifty-car trains on. And watching a four year old teach sign language to an eighteen year old was really quite entertaining.

Later, after reading so many bedtime stories to Mattie that he fell asleep in the middle of one, I took Vincent down the hall to my bedroom. I locked the door, grinning madly.

"Shouldn't we pay attention? What if Mattie needs us?" Vincent asked.

"He's sleeping. He'll be fine. And if he does need us...Well, that kid's really gotta set a'lungs on him. We'd be able to hear," I assured.

"Really? You're not just saying that to get into my pants faster?" he laughed. I shook my head and kissed him.

I had decided beforehand that I would take my time getting into Vincent's pants. We'd kissed many times before, but this was the first time we'd been able to get really intimate with each other. So I wasn't going to rush through and waste it like it was just a fuck with some classmate I was randomly thrown together with. (Ahem. But I digress.)

I was determined to at least _try_ for romantic and affectionate. Plus, I didn't think Vincent was the type who was willing to be bent over and fucked. (Not that I wouldn't've done that if he'd asked me to...Cos I totally would've.) No, I was going to love him and go slowly.

He'd already told me how he'd been hurt and what he looked like underneath his clothing. I admit, I was curious to see those horrible scars and imperfections I'd been told about. But there was nothing either of us could do about it. When it came down to it, I didn't care. I just wanted to be with him. And if that included a few old cuts (even if they did happen to span over most of his body), then so be it. I'd give him love in any way he wanted it.

No fucking, just touching. He was very clear on this and I respected his limits. It didn't bother me, as long as we could just be close.

I'd never been so appreciative of lights till that night.

I would've hated to miss all that I was able to see. Like how he tilted his head, leaving his pretty throat exposed for me to nip at. His hand around my dick, and my hand at his, pressed against each other and stroking together. Or the way his red eyes almost seemed to glow before he shut them tight as his cum spattered onto his chest. And when he cleaned off part of his cum covered fingers with his tongue, and told me to kiss him...

I wouldn't've missed seeing any of that for anything.

Sleep came quickly, though I tried to stay up as long as I could. It wasn't every night that I got to sleep curled up next to a gorgeous, bare-skinned boy.

I started awake when Vincent did. He was breathing heavily, and holding so tightly onto my arm, I thought the circulation would soon stop. "Vinny? You okay?"

"Yeah, just had a bad dream. Sorry to wake you." The grip on my arm loosened a bit.

I looked over at the clock. A little after 3. I decided I was hungry. "Do you wanna go and get something to eat?"

Vincent agreed, but was a little reluctant to go downstairs in nothing but our boxer shorts.

"It's late, Vinny. I'm sure my mum's been back and asleep in bed for a few hours now. Nobody'll see us."

Downstairs we went, as quietly as possible (making sure to avoid that squeaky step), and snuck into the kitchen to peruse the refrigerator. Those apples looked pretty good. And maybe some a'that string cheese too. I took the apples to the cutting board.

As I picked up a knife, I felt Vinny lean against my back and nip at my earlobe. "Let me do it," he said in a low voice, easily slicing the fruit with his metal claws. I watched him as he licked his fingers clean for the second time that night. I was just about to forgo food and take him back to bed, when we heard something that sounded like keys in the front door's lock.

"Cidney..." Vincent wanted an escape plan. But I had none to give. The door opened and my mum came into the kitchen with a stranger in tow. A _male_ stranger.

Not expecting to see anyone, she let out a short, startled cry of surprise, which made me do the same in response. Vincent tried to hide behind me.

"Cid?"

"Mum?"

Then a long pause.

"How's your brother?"

"Fine. Sleeping."

Another pause. I grabbed up some of the food, preparing for an escape.

"Did you boys have a good time tonight?"

"Yeah. Did you?"

"Oh yes. Wonderful time."

And a hesitant question.

"Cidney, do you need any...protection?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Do _you_?" I shot back and headed back to the stairs. Vincent had dashed in front of me.

"Fuck. I'm really sorry," I started to ramble on about the event, mostly to try and figure it out. Vinny wrapped himself back up in the blankets, but listened intently.

The question wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest if my mum would've come home by herself. I'm not sure why I'd initially found it to be funny. I still kinda did. But it also really pissed me off. And who the fuck was that guy? I hadn't heard anything about a date or a boyfriend or anything like that. I seriously hoped she hadn't picked some guy up from a club or something. But I really couldn't imagine her doing that...

Vinny finally convinced me to try to go back to sleep. And frankly, I would've rather spent the rest of the night snuggled up next to him, than worrying about my mother.

Morning came and found me hungry again. Mmm...breakfast time. I love breakfast.

I slid out of bed, found my pants, and snuck out my bedroom door without waking Vincent.

My eyes still weren't used to the light when I made my way to the kitchen. Fuck, I wanted a smoke, but they were back up in my room. Fuck, it was early.

"Oh good. You're at least half clothed this time," my mum said.

"Yeah, well...mmrrgh..." It was far too early for snarky comebacks. "Sarcasm isn't appreciated this early."

"It's far from early. It's almost noon," she informed me.

I continued to mutter obscenities as I grabbed a box of cereal and slid to the floor. Fuck, I loved breakfast.

"There _is_ a table with plenty of chairs about ten steps away," she said.

"Meh." I let my head droop to the side and wondered if I could eat and sleep all at the same time. "Who'sattrckyehcmewfflasnigh?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Cidney. What the hell are you saying?"

I swallowed my food. "I said, dear Mother, who was that trick you came home with last night?"

"Cid!"

"What?"

"Did you just--"

"Imply that you were a hooker? Why yes I did."

I snickered & she sighed and tried to explain.

"His name is Ben--"

"And you've known each other for about fifteen hours now?"

"Will you stop interrupting me? And no, he's a friend of Lisa's. I met him when I went to lunch with her and Jackie a few weeks ago."

"When were you going to tell me about this?" And why was it pissing me off so badly? "How many other guys have you gone out with?"

"Not that many, Cidney. They never go past a date or two. I wouldn't want to bring up a new relationship until I was sure about it," she told me.

"Hmph." I wanted to find fault with that. "I bet he really likes _me_ now. Did you tell him I go for the dick?"

"Cid! No, I hadn't told him--"

"Would that have possibly screwed the relationship? Does he know that Mattie's deaf? Cos if it would so happen that he tries to be our new dad one day, that's a pretty damn big responsibility." I still couldn't pin down the reason I was so angry.

"Yes, I told him about Mattie. But 'Hi, how are you, my son is gay' just hadn't come up yet. I wasn't hiding it. Stop being silly. You know I would never hide that." She looked a little hurt.

But I was still hurting too. "What the hell was with that question last night?"

"Well, I figured, especially with you two running around in your underwear like that, there was probably a chance that things would happen and I want you to be safe. I'm your mother. I have every right to worry about that."

I suppose that was true. But...still upset. "Last time I checked, Vincent wasn't able to get pregnant."

"You know damn well what I mean." It was weird to see my mum almost seriously angry.

"Yes I _know_ what you mean, Mum. I'm not _stupid_. I've already got a whole box a'condoms in my room an' I've practiced with 'em and everything. And anyways, we didn't even fuck...technically." I shoved a handful of cereal in my mouth.

My mum sighed and rested her head in her hands. "Well, that's...good?"


	11. If I Had My Way I'd Have All Of You Shot

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(But I do own Mattie!)

(Oh and by the way, since Mattie's mostly deaf (cos he's cool like that : ) ), whenever somebody's using sign language, _it'll be underlined and italicized, yo_.)

-------------------------

11. If I Had My Way, I'd Have All Of You Shot! (Cid's POV)

-------------------------

"Do you like that strawberry and Oreo kind, Cidney?"

"Huh. I don't think I've even _seen_ that one before." It was always so damn hard to pick out an ice cream flavour.

"_Excuse_ me," I heard from somewhere near. Then the voice cleared their throat in an obnoxious way. So I looked over. Oh, Mattie. He didn't know the lady behind him wanted him to move. I nudged his shoulder and waved him over close to me and Vinny. I told the lady "sorry" and rolled my eyes at her when she looked away.

"Icky! Icky!" Mattie wanted my attention. It was loud and I couldn't help but laugh. He was fucken adorable. "_You need to be quiet, Monkey,_" I told him and was ready to to pay attention to him. But that lady was looking over towards us and whispering something to her friend.

"Hey, you gotta problem with my little brother?"

"You're mother obviously didn't teach you boys any manners," she scoffed.

"He's _deaf_, you son of a bitch!"

After bitterly finishing our ice cream (well, _I_ was bitter), we left for home.

"Cid!"

I stopped and looked around for the voice. Aw, hell no...

"What the _fuck_ do you want?" I growled.

"I wanted to see you, of course."

"Me? What about Mattie? Did you forget about Mattie?"

"Of course I didn't forget Mattie," he squatted down in front of my brother. "Hey Mattie!"

"He's _deaf_ you fucker!" I yelled. "Why doesn't anybody notice this?"

"Icky!" Mattie tugged at my sleeve. "_Is that our dad?_"

I nodded and he hid behind my legs. "Yeah, that's our good old dad, alright."

"These are _your_ kids?" It was that same pretentious whore from the ice cream shop!

"Is _that_ the call girl you left us for?" I shot back.

My dad looked embarrassed, but ignored my question. "Those two are mine," he pointed. "Who's your friend, Cid?"

"This is my boyfriend Vincent, _Dad_," I said.

"_Boy_friend?" The bitch seemed offended.

"Yeah! What of it, tramp?" I yelled.

"Cid, please," my dad asked. "I don't want us all to be upset."

"Well you're a few years late for that, _Dad_. Mattie had to ask me who you were just now! How am I not supposed to be upset when my brother can't even recognize our own dad? How many times have you come to see us? Four? Maybe five?"

"Cid, I--"

"Which reminds me. I think you forgot something a few months ago...Like, back in _February_? Ringin' any bells yet, _Dad_?"

I saw on his face the moment he realized. "Your birthday..."

"Yes, my Goddamn birthday. If it wasn't for the two cards you send me every year, I'd probably forget you're still out there. But you couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge my birthday." I was ready to call him out on every single little thing I could think of.

"I'm sorry--"

"Sorry shit! If you were really sorry, you wouldn't'a left us in the first place."

"Listen, Cid," he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Here. You can pick yourself out a late birthday present, and get something for Mattie and Vincent too."

"Gee thanks. While you're at it, could we have a little bit of gil for some dinner? With all that child support Mum gets, there isn't a whole lot left for food for all of us. I've been letting her and Mattie have most'a the good stuff." That was a complete lie. Even before my mum and dad were married, my mum was really pretty well off, and still was. We weren't _rich_ by any means, but we were able to live rather comfortably. "Sometimes I don't even get to have breakfast."

"I know you love your breakfast..." My dad muttered. He gave up counting and picking out the gil from his wallet and just gave me all he had. Later, we found out it came up to about 800 gil. We split it between the three of us.

"This makes up for _nothing_," I hissed, shoving it into my pocket.

My dad just nodded. "Is your mother home?"

"I don't fucken know. She's probably at work. I don't know if she'd wanna see you."

"Would you tell her to call my cell phone if she does? If you need anything?" he asked.

"Maybe." I told him.

"It's good to see you," he started.

"Just save it," I told him and almost started walking away. "I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Did you come see me like I asked you to?" I stared him straight in the eyes. He knew damn well I was talking about my play.

He looked away and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I wasn't able--"

"Go to hell." I turned and motioned for Mattie and Vincent to follow. "Come on," I sighed. "Let's go tell Mum."


	12. Y'Wanna Get Crooked, I'll Give Y'My Fist

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(But Patrick and Michael are mine!)

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12. If Ya Wanna Get Crooked I'll Even Give Ya My Fist. (Cid's POV)

-------------------------

Later on, after that whole incident with my dad, I was still fuming. Did he honestly think he could just come around whenever the fuck he wanted?

"Fuck. I wanna go somewhere else," I was pacing around, restless. "I just, fuck, I don't even know what I want. Fuck."

"I suppose we could always go to my house..." Vincent offered.

"Seriously? You never want us go to your house," I reminded him.

"I know that, but we could go this once," he said.

He didn't live all that far from me, but his neighbourhood was a little more run down. The house was kind of small, and it was all cluttered inside.

"Hullo, Mum," Vincent said as we entered the house. His mum was at the sink doing dishes.

"Hi, Vincent. What are you up to?" She turned off the water. "Oh is this your friend? Cid, right?"

I nodded. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Valentine."

She smiled politely and nodded back. "Are you two hungry?"

"No, thank you, Mum. We ate recently," Vincent answered.

"Alright, well help yourselves if you want. I'd better finish up these dishes." She went back to her work.

I swatted Vincent's shoulder. "_Should we offer to help?_" I signed.

"_No. She never wants..._" He didn't know how to finish the sentence and just waved his hands around randomly. Vincent's signing always made me laugh. He knew the basic words, but had problems putting them together correctly. "Mum, would you like us to help you with the dishes?"

"Oh, no thank you," she declined. "I can handle it."

"_Okay. Yes. She never wants._"

"What the hell're you doin'?" the man who I assumed to be Vincent's father looked into the kitchen.

"Uhm, it's sign language," Vincent tried to answer. He gestured toward me. "His brother is--"

"Whatcher name, son?" his dad interrupted.

"Cid Highwind, sir."

"What's this aboutcher brother now?"

I glanced at Vincent before I answered. "Uh, he's deaf, my brother is. So we have to sign with him, and we've been teaching Vincent."

"Huh. He any good at it?"

"Well, you could always ask him, sir," I said, not wanting him to ignore Vincent.

His dad looked at him. "Well?"

"Yes, I'm doing fairly well with it..." Vincent told him.

"Speak up, boy! And getcher hair outta yer face," he started to walk out of the room. "Gonna take a pair'a scissors to that girly mess someday, I swear..."

"But I like my hair," Vincent said quietly to no one in particular, and tucked a few stray strands behind his ear.

"Me too," I smiled at him. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah... Come on."

The next obstacle came at the bottom of the staircase.

"Hey Vicky, this your new boyfriend?"

Vincent ignored his brother, which resulted in more torment.

"I asked you a question, fag," he shoved Vincent into the wall.

"Leave him alone!" I yelled, slamming my fist into his nose.

"Ow, you little punk!" he was going to come at me, fists flying, but his dad stopped him.

"Michael!"

"But Dad, he--"

"Michael, get the fuck outta here," his dad instructed. "Nice punch, son," he patted me on the back and followed Michael out of the room.

"You okay, Vinny?"

"Yes, thank you for that," he still looked upset, but he smiled a little.

"Why is my door open?" he asked when we had made it upstairs. I began to look for the bathroom while he investigated. "Get out of my room, Patrick," he growled.

"But you got a better tv!"

"Hey Vinny? Where's the bathroom?" I called. "I got your brother's blood on my hand." There wasn't much, but it was true, but I think it also freaked out Patrick a little.

"Freak," he pushed past Vincent and went down the stairs.

I washed up and came back to Vincent's room. He was curled up on the bed with a Spiderman pillow. It made me go "aww" inside.

"Lock the door," he told me. And as if he felt guilty for not saying it in the first place, he added "Please".

I lay down next to him and put my arm around him. "I'm sorry, Vinny."

"Why? You didn't do anything. You were the one who defended me."

"Yeah, but I wish I didn't have to. I wish there wasn't a need for it, y'know?"

He just shrugged.

"Vincent?" I waited till he rolled over and looked at me. "You know I love you, right?"

He grinned at me. "Yeah..."

"Well, I just want ya to know. I mean, even with all this shit, even though it sucks, I love you, okay? Seems to me like you don't get told that enough."

He nodded and laid his head on my chest. "I love you too," he told me.

"Good."

The next thing I remember, I was waking up. The first thing I saw was Vinny's pretty red eyes looking at me. "I should be able to wake up to that creepy stare every morning," I told him as lovingly as I could.

He closed his eyes and snickered. It was a kind of laugh that made him sound like he was still a little loopy with sleep.

"We don't hafta do anything today, do we?" I kissed his forehead.

"No, I don't believe so."

"Good. Cos I'm never moving, ever," I hugged him tightly.

"Not even for breakfast?" he asked, astonished. (God, I love breakfast.)

"Nope. Not for nuffin' at all."

We lay there for a long while, probably dozing off and on, till Vinny had to go and ruin it and try to get up.

"Where d'you think you're goin', Spookie?" I grabbed him around the stomach.

"Not so hard!" he yelped. "That tickles and I have to pee!"

I quickly took my arms from him. I couldn't'a held him back anymore anyways, I was laughing too much. I swear, that's the funniest thing I'd ever heard him say.

"Good luck!" I called as he ran out of the room.

He came back a couple minutes later, looking like he was on a mission. He went straight to his desk and started looking through the drawers.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me what you're doing?" I questioned pointlessly. Of course he didn't answer me. He wouldn't acknowledge anything till he found what he wanted or gave up.

"There it is," he pulled something out of the drawer and tossed it at me. It was the program for my play. "I've seen you before!" he grinned.

"Oh yeah? Wasn't I brilliant?" I laughed, flipping through the book. For old time's sake.

"Mm, I thought so," Vinny started putting his things back in the drawers. "I wanted to say hello after the performance. But I couldn't imagine that you'd be interested. And you had so many people trying to talk to you already, and my shyness got the best of me, I suppose..."

"Well, we can't do anything about it now, but I wish you would've," I told him. "Y'know, if I woulda met you back then, I coulda been all over your skinny ass years ago."

"All the time we've wasted..." he smiled sadly and sat back down on the bed. I was worried I'd made him feel bad.

"No way, Fang," I grabbed him and pulled him back down with me. "It was worth the wait."


	13. You've Come To Hold Me Lightly

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(But Patrick and Michael are mine!)

-------------------------

13. You've Come To Love Me Lightly, Yeah You've Come To Hold Me Tight. (Vincent's POV)

-------------------------

I hated to do it, but I felt like I owed him _something_ at least.

Cid was under a lot of stress from running into his father that day. He was upset and wanted to get out of his house for a while. I could understand that. So I offered to have him over to my house. We had never gone over there before. I hated it and would go to great lengths to not be there.

Just this once wouldn't hurt. So I led Cid to my home and subjected him to my mess of a family. My father freaked him out, and he ended up throwing his fist in my brother's face. He protected me and made my brother's nose bleed all at once. It made me smile.

Cid and I locked ourselves up in my room, away from those bastards on the outside. I didn't want to see them. I hated them. They've never mattered anyway.

We lay on the bed for quite a while. We talked some, but it was quiet. My head, the house and its inhabitants... It was unusually peaceful and I was enjoying thoroughly.

"Vincent?" Cid asked.

I turned over to look at him.

"You know I love you, right?"

I couldn't stop the grin that took over. "Yeah..." I knew it. It was the first time he'd actually said it, but I had known it.

"Well, I just want ya to know. I mean, even with all this shit, even though it sucks, I love you, okay? Seems to me like you don't get told that enough."

I could count on my two hands just how many times I had been told I was loved. I could count on one _finger_ just how many people had said it before. Until now, that is. It made everything in me feel _good_. My heart was happy. And beating a bit faster when I said "I love you too."

"Good," he said. That was the end of discussion. I wouldn't have been able to think of anything else to say.

On my list of wants as a child, love was always the thing I wanted most. I had gone my entire life only imagining what it could possibly feel like, and so far, the real thing felt so much better than I ever thought it would.


	14. Sine 2 Theta & Cosine 2 Theta Equals One

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

Lawls. I wrote this at Warped Tour. It was...very warm and uncomfortable out there.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(I do, however, own the events of the tragic incident T.G.S.F.O.Y.E.: T.N.T.L.B.)

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14. I'm Sine Squared Theta; You're Cosine Squared Theta. Together We Are One. (Vincent's POV)

-------------------------

I was absolutely miserable. Cid owed me big time.

Ew.

I was sweating insanely and it was much too bright out there for my liking. I was going to get a sun burn and my freckles were already beginning to show. I could see them on my arms. Well...arm. I was sure my nose and cheeks would be covered and Cid would tell me, aww, how cute I look.

This was all a ploy for my cuteness. I bet that's why we were there.

It was very loud and very cluttered. So many people. It made me nervous as fuck and legitimately worried that I'd have a panic attack.

"Are you all having fun out there?!"

No, sir, Mr. Lead Vocalist Of A Band I've Never Heard Of And Never Will Hear Of Again.

No, I was not having fun out there in the hot, hot sun. It was 103 degrees. No exaggeration. There was a sign over there somewhere displaying the temperature.

You're lucky I love you so much, Cid Highwind. I should have left you to your own devices and stayed home.

I would have hated for him to be alone all day though. But no, I would not be accompanying him into that frightful mosh pit thing. I didn't want to be pushed in with all those sweaty, dirty bodies. I'd probably end up stabbing one of them. Accidentally or purposely though, that remained to be seen.

Maybe I'd have a heat stroke. The shade I had found to sit in was offering some relief, but a hospital would have been much cooler. I appreciated air conditioning. Don't let anybody think I've ever said otherwise.

I tried thinking about other things. Like recalling the unfortunate instance in which Cidney's mother had to work late, therefore putting the two of us in charge of preparing dinner. We were told that the process would be easy and we shouldn't worry about anything.

The recipe was some sort of chicken dish. The pan went on the stove, the chicken went into pan. Things were uneventful and mundane for a short period of time. However, with the events that followed, a lot of the details are blurry; it all happened so fast.

To keep a complicated story short, "Holy shit, the salad's on fire" is honestly one of the most unnerving exclamations I will ever hear.

Yet there I was, trying not to think about heat, and I manage to remember The Great Salad Fire Of Year Eighteen: The Night The Lettuce Burned. (It was a real tragedy. PTSD all around.)

A scrawny, underweight boy nearly collapsed next to me. He had the reddest mess of hair I would ever see in my life. He stuck his tongue out and panted dramatically. I tried to ignore him - I don't much like strangers - but he was watching me sketch lines in the dirt with my fingers.

He sighed, closing his eyes, and clamping his tongue ring between his teeth. I don't usually deny myself the pleasure of looking upon an attractive boy, but I thought perhaps I should take to ignoring the ones who are capable of giving me an erection despite such hot weather.

"That shirt's very becoming on you," he said.

I looked down to check which shirt I was wearing. Oh, that one? What was so special about that one?

"If I were on you, I'd be coming too," he added, grinning like a fool.

It took a moment, but I soon realized what he meant. I couldn't hold back a laugh.

"You wouldn't happen to have any spare water, would ya?" he asked.

"Sure," I handed him my water bottle. He took it and tried not to drink too much.

"Thanks, yo. You're my hero." He took one more quick drink before setting the bottle on the ground in front of me.

"Hey Reno, come on, man," a friend of his ran over. "We've got five minutes to catch the next act."

"Yeah, alright," the redhead muttered. "Yo Rudey, gimme the backpack real quick."

Hm. Reno. What a goofy name. It seemed to fit him though; he certainly did seem to be a fairly goofy boy.

Reno pulled a pack of skittles out of his bag and tossed them to me. "For the water, yo," he explained. "See ya, sugar." He winked at me and got up to follow his friend.


	15. If You Were My Bed, I'd Be In You Now

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

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15. If You Were My Bed...I'd Be In You Right Now. (Cid's POV)

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"I _can't_ come over tonight, Highwind." Vincent insisted.

"But _why_?" I whined.

"I've already told you several times. I have too much schoolwork to do."

"But Vinny, you can bring it over here."

"No, I cannot bring it over there."

"But _why_?"

"I've already told you several times. We'll distract each other too much."

"But _why_?"

"Because you and your cock insist on constant attention."

"Say it again!" Him saying "cock" always made me all giggly.

"What? No!"

"Pleeease, Vinny?" I tried to flash my charms through the telephone.

"If I say it again, will you let me get back to my homework?" That was a slightly tempting offer.

"Psh. No." I couldn't do it.

"Oh Ciddy Cid Cid..." he sighed. "What am I supposed to do with you?"

"I can think up plenty'a things to do with me. 'Cept you hafta come over to do 'em." That was too easy.

"I suppose I walked right into that one..."

"Y'know where else you could walk to?" I hinted.

"Hm. Let me guess. To your house?"

"Yes, Vincent!"

"I _can't_ come over tonight, Highwind."

"But _why_?"

"Cid, we are not having the same exact conversation we've had at least six times in the past fifteen minutes."

"Then I know something else we could have..." I tried for a sexy voice.

"You're _really_ grasping, Cidney. I'm sorry, I am not coming over. I have to finish reading for tomorrow. And tomorrow is Friday. That means I will visit your house _tomorrow_."

"But that's such a long time from now..." I was genuinely slightly sad about it. But then I thought of something that could fix that! "Hey Vinny? Whatcha wearin'?"

"Oh, God. Not this... Clothes, Cid. I'm wearing clothes."

"Well, yeah, but which ones?" I'm sure he could hear the grin in my voice.

"To start with, my black pants."

"You only own like, two pairs of the same exact pants. That was obvious. What else?" I pressed on.

"Hmph. I keep them clean, at least. You know that black jacket with the red stars down the front? That really tight one that I wear instead of a regular shirt sometimes?" he asked.

"Yes! Shit, that's my favourite one."

"I'm wearing that. Uhm, no shoes or anything."

"That's good, that's good." I was probably already drooling over that. "You, ah, wouldn't happen to be wearing that collar, would ya?"

"Actually, I _am_ wearing it," he confirmed.

"The black one? With the silver ring so I can put my leash on ya?"

"I own only one collar, Cidney," he laughed. "Yes, that's the one."

"Oh fuck, I think I'm gonna lose it..."

"A little premature, don't you think?" he teased.

"Vincent. Do you wanna have phone sex?" It was better than nothing. In fact it'd be damn fun.

"No, not particularly."

"Mm..." I rubbed at the front of my pants. "Come on, Vinny. Please? At least talk with me for the next ten minutes or so."

"You already have your hand down your pants, don't you, Cidney?"

"Maybe. What's it to ya?"

He groaned, defeated. "Hold on a second." He set the phone down and I could hear fabric rustling in the background. That better've been his pants coming off. "Okay, I'm back."

"Good." I said. We were both quiet for a minute.

"Cidney?" he asked in a sort of hushed voice. "What do you talk about when you're masturbating with someone on the phone?"

"Fuck if I know," I laughed. "Are the lights off?"

"No."

"You too lazy, or do you like watching what you're doin'?" I was already having fun with this.

"A little of both," he told me.

"Yeah. I wish I could watch what you're doin' too." Maybe I could push my luck just a bit. "It's not too late to come over, y'know."

"Cid, hush with that."

"Okay." I couldn't argue with it anymore. "Maybe sometime when you _are_ over, you could let me watch while you touch yourself?"

"Maybe..."

"I've never really gotten to watch you. Just paid more attention to doing things _to_ you."

"Mm..."

"Yeah, I can't wait. Seein' your fingers strokin' your pretty cock, workin' all that precum out, an' watchin' it drip down onto your stomach. _Fuck_, it'd be _so_ hard not to touch you." It was hard enough for me not to run to his house to touch him right then.

"Cid, I," he took a moment to breath. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say."

"That's alright, Vinny. Don't worry about it. This isn't makin' you uncomfortable, is it?"

"Not really."

"Good, good." I didn't want to bother him, but I didn't want to stop. "Thinkin' about anything interesting?"

"Mm, just listening. I like listening to your attempt at dirty talk," he admitted.

"Bastard. You think you could do better?"

"Not at all."

"Then quit complainin' about it," I laughed, but I got a little more serious after a minute. "Do you get loud when you play with yourself?"

"Sometimes, yes. If I'm home alone, but unfortunately there are others here now."

"Damn. That's too bad, Vinny. I wanted to hear ya get loud for me."

"Next time we're alone," his breathing was getting a little heavier. God, it was so hot. "I'll get as loud as you want me to be, Cidney."

"Good, I like that, Vinny. I love hearin' you moan. You got such a sexy voice." I was jerking myself faster. When did that happen? I just listened to him for a while, breathing faster, letting small noises of pleasure slip from his mouth. "God, I wanna watch you right now. I bet your cheeks are all red, and you're biting your bottom lip, just--ahh--just like that... So pretty, Vincent. Goddammit. I can't keep going much longer, Vinny. Are you getting close?"

"Almost...almost there, Cidney..."

"Mm, yeah, come for me, Vinny. Lemme hear ya just a little bit..."

"God, Cid, nahh," he moaned as loud as he could dare himself to, and I could hear him panting and gasping.

"Ah fuck, Vincent, Jesus," I swore through clenched teeth as I came. Then we just sat there for a while, composing ourselves. "Son of a bitch..."

"What's the matter?"

"Eh. I came all over my shirt."

"That's why you take off all your clothes first, Cidney," he had a smart ass tone in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah..." I tried to poke at it to keep it consolidated, but that was pointless. "Got it all over my hand now. Shit."

"I wish I could lick it clean for you." That lecherous bastard.

"Don't tease me. You could do it if you came over, though."

"Cid, I told you to stop that. I shouldn't have been on the phone this long anyway. It's getting late and I have work to do. I'm sure you do as well."

"But what about cuddle time? You can't just have your way with me and leave me," I pouted. (Even though he couldn't see that part...)

He sighed. "Five more minutes, alright? That's my only offer."

"'Kay. I guess I don't have much of a choice." I admitted defeat. It felt like a long time had passed in silence.

"Are you going to say anything, or are you going to waste your precious remaining three and a half minutes?" Vincent asked.

"Eh, I don't really have much else to say. I just like being on the phone with you, even if there's not much talking. It's the next best thing to actually having you with me," I explained.

"Oh. I see. I think I understand." More time passed. "Thirty seconds, Cid Highwind."

"Grr..." It wasn't fair. I wanted my Vinny all the time. "Alright, Fang. Whatever. You get back to your damn schoolwork... And I guess I will too," I accepted my fate resentfully.

"Thank you, Cidney," he said sweetly.

"Yeah, yeah... Save it, Valentine." I wasn't really upset with him. I just wanted to try and guilt him into another few minutes.

"Alright, well, I'm going to hang up now, okay?"

"Fine."

"Hey Cid?"

"Whaddya want now?"

"I love you, Cid."

Aww, I couldn't even pretend to be mad at him anymore. "I love you back, Vinny."

"Goodnight, Cid..."

"Yeah, 'night Vincent..." I hesitated a moment before I hung up. Just in case. But that was all. I set the phone down, fastened my pants, and took my shirt off, careful to avoid getting shit all over my face or anything.

I sighed and picked up my pencil. Ha. Homework. How could I be expected to do homework when I had a Vincent to think about?


	16. Your Face Is A Mess

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(Nor most of what Vinny's saying.)

(This chapter probably sounds a lot more ridiculous than I wanted it to...)

(Also, I don't like the ending, but I'm no good with endings, so oh well.)

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16. You've Torn Your Dress, Your Face Is A Mess. (Cid's POV)

-------------------------

It wasn't like Vincent to go more than a day without talking to me, and I was likewise towards him. But we were both pretty busy with school recently, so it was understandable.

The second day, I tried to call his house, but nobody answered. But I had a lot to do too, so I didn't think much about it.

The morning of the third day though, after calling a couple times, I was starting to worry a bit. I missed my Vinny. So I decided to skip class and stop by his house.

There weren't any cars in the driveway. Nobody answered the door, but I could hear the television on and the door was unlocked. "Uh, excuse me?" I peeked inside. And then I fully stepped inside. "Hey Vincent?" I called. No answer.

I went upstairs to Vincent's room and knocked. "Hey Spookie, you home? I missed you..." His door was unlocked too, which was unusual whether he was home or away. The lights were off, and I almost figured maybe he really wasn't home, till I saw him sitting in the corner.

"Hi, Vinny! Why've ya been hidin' from me?" I shut the door behind me. "What's wrong, Sunshine?... Can I turn on the lights?"

He didn't answer, so I flipped the light switch. He just sat there with his knees pulled up to his chest, and his head resting on his knees. "Shit, Vinny, what happened?" I hurried across the room to sit next to him.

"Nothing," he mumbled. "Goddammit... Really nothing. Everything is fine." It certainly didn't look that way. Things aren't fine when you're digging your nails into your skin. I reached over to pull his hands away from his arms. He flinched when I touched him.

"Hey now, Vinny. I'm not gonna hurt ya," I let go of his hands. "But you've got blood on your arms there, and you're all scratched up. We gotta get you cleaned up, okay?"

"No, it's not bad," he insisted. "It's just, damn, it's this... It's alright." He refused to look at me.

"It's not alright, Vincent. You have to tell me what's wrong," I lifted his head up, despite his weak attempt to resist. He kept his eyes averted down to the floor. "Jesus...Did your brothers do this to you?" There was dried blood that had dripped down from his nose and mouth, and bruises all around his face and neck.

He managed to turn away again, and went back to silence.

"You're comin' over to my house, Vincent. Fucken hell..." I cursed angrily and went around Vincent's room, grabbing his meds, a change of clothes, and anything he might need for staying the night out, and shoved them in his school bag.

"Fuck. It was those asshole brothers of yours, wasn't it? _Fuck_. Goddammit, I shoulda been there..." It was hard not to cry and break the shit outta things. "Come on, Spookie. We're goin' to my house now," I slung his school bag over my shoulders and held my hands out for him.

He shook his head, holding it in his hands. "I can't come down...it's something terrible. I scare myself, even now," he muttered, not making complete sense. "I just, I can't, fucking get out of me!" he shouted. "I just can't _THINK_ anyways!"

I'd gone to the bathroom for a wet washcloth. I pulled him up to his feet and cleaned the blood off his face. "Vincent, try to listen to me," I reached into my pocket for my ipod and set it to his favourite album. "Not whatever's in your head. You listen to me, Vincent." I brushed his hair back and adjusted the headphones to his ears. "We're gonna walk back to my house now, getcha safe and comfy and tidied up. Then once we're all set, you can tell me 'bout what happened. Okay, Vincent?...Okay? You listening to me?"

He nodded once. "A favour, captain, a word with you. My systems gone, my gun I've left behind, and sir, I think you'd better take my hand..."

"How long have you been like this, Vinny?" I pressed play, and held onto his hand, leading him down the stairs.

"Three or maybe two days, Cid Highwind. We haven't rested, haven't fed..."

He continued to ramble all the way to my house.

"I'm merely asking you to help me! When did I say to murder? Wait, now! Please hear me out!" His eyes focused in and out and sometimes they went completely vacant as he spoke. As if it wasn't even Vincent talking.

I finished cleaning and bandaging him up, and helped him change into some clean clothes. Taking his shirt off, I discovered a whole 'nother mess of bruises and red marks. It all just made me want to cry. "You're safe now, Vinny. You're alright now," I hugged him and tried to kiss his cheek, but he turned away from me.

"I've felt much better than this before," he dragged himself over to the corner and sat down like he was when I found him. "Don't let them scare you. Well, nothing seems right from up here, all inside out. I'm still unclear about the things they might have said. Oh God, you're all fucked up for sure..."

Vincent snickered to himself. "Fight on, fire, burn your hands till you got nothing left to count your numbers on."

He pressed his hands to his forehead. "No, I don't want to think of it anymore! There, I wish I would never hurt again. If I could just write you out...Back to the hell where you've come from."

He gazed ahead, his vacant stare going right through me. "What is this shit you keep selling them, boy? You'll burn in hell while they're digging you out."

I thought maybe Vincent was talking with his demons. I found this all to be extremely intriguing and extremely frightening all at the same time. I wasn't sure what to say, or even if he would pay much attention if I said anything at all. So I let him keep going for a while to see what would happen.

"We've made you feel this discomfort in turn with the world you've learned. If you'd get put to sleep, like an old dog... You're better off, should you get put to sleep!"

"Something I can't stop but wish that I could kill... Do I scare you? I should be, its broken. Thank God for your strength..." He glanced at me for just a moment before the empty look reappeared.

His tone of voice turned teasing and mean. "Still searching for your faith? Would things have really changed if you could have stayed? Something lurks, creeps on the counter top, somewhere inside you."

"I can't stand to watch it...Remember when...we were young? Turn round and let me show you what I mean. I twisted, and I hurt, and I took down." He pulled at his hair in frustration.

"Give a look, surprised, wide eyes, to him. Then you'll know just what he is!" He let out a sickening laugh that quickly turned into a sob.

"I wish Goddammit! Wait for me, alright? I'm just a boy down here...You know he never will make sense of what you give him and now it's all down hill from here. Making sense of... Will systems take me home and dissemble me...?" He trailed off around here. I had had my fill of demons for the day, and I'm sure Vincent was far past his limit as well.

"Vincent, talk to me, not the voices, remember? Please tell me what happened. I don't know what to do." I couldn't hold back my tears once I saw Vincent's. After a while, he crawled over to sit next to me. I put my arm around him, hoping that it would give him even the smallest bit of comfort.

"A series of knocks to the young boy's head side, blood hungry, hateful, and vicious, unfit family ties. Just come look at what that brother did, here he did away with me! Just come look at what that brother did to that boy's precious little whore of a body now..."

His voice grew soft and scared. "You've made a good friend to me... But, while we were outnumbered and torn..." his head rested on my shoulder. "He made us do things... Oh dear God, I don't feel alive!" He cried and began to sob harder.

I tried so hard to stay strong for him. He eventually tired out and fell asleep.


	17. Crushed By The Way That You Cry

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(But I gots Patrick & Michael!)

(This chapter probably sounds a lot more ridiculous than I wanted it to...)

(Also, I don't like the ending, but I'm no good with endings, so oh well.)

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17. Cue To Your Face So Forsaken, Crushed By The Way That You Cry. (Cid's POV)

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I was fucking furious. I would've killed 'em both, I swear it. At least that bastard son of a bitch Michael. Nothing would've made me happier than to strangle the life outta that Goddamn fucker.

I just went straight past Patrick. He'd only roughed Vinny up some. He didn't know what had happened after he left the room.

"You Goddamn sonuvabitch!" I leapt onto Michael, knocking us both to the floor. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Me? Why the fuck do you keep hitting me, you fucking punk?"

"Cos you're gonna fucken kill 'im! You Goddamn fucker!"

Fists flew and we both struggled for control. Even when I was being pulled away, I kept trying to beat him.

"Hey! What's the matter now, boy?" Vincent's dad held me back, but I wanted free.

"Oh, lemme give ya the list! Do you have any _fucken_ idea what he's done to Vincent? Tied him down, beat him, raped him, choked him," it made me fucking sick. "Not that you give a shit about what happens to your own son, but I do! There is fucking _nothing_ that can fix it, but I'm gonna fucken kill that bastard!"

"That's not fucking true!" Michael tried to defend himself.

"It _is_ fucking true, you sick fuck!" I slipped away and attacked, but I wasn't able to go on for long before I was held back again.

"Cid," Vincent's dad looked at me. I seriously hoped he believed me. "Go home, Cid. I'll deal with Michael."

I wasn't sure what to do.

"I said 'go home,'" he repeated. He looked disappointed.

So I left for home, listening to Michael trying to convince his dad otherwise.

"I'm back," I spat, kicking off my shoes and slamming the door. I never mentioned where I'd been.

"Come look, Cidney! We're almost finished," my mum called from across the kitchen. She had Vincent sat at the table, working on cutting his hair. Michael had taken a knife to it. Poor Vinny, that had to have hurt.

"Isn't he looking handsome?" my mum beamed.

"Of course," I smiled at him. His hair was now a little longer in the front, just right below his ears, and a little spiky in the back. Aww, he looked like a little emo boy.

He really did look good, as always, but his expression was still the same as it had been for the past several days: a sort of empty mix of angry and sad. Why couldn't I fix him? Why hadn't I been able to make him smile like I could just a week before?

"Alright, I think we're done," my mum held up a hand mirror so Vincent could see himself.

He glanced at his reflection and looked down. "Thank you."

"Are you sure it's okay?" my mum asked. "We could try to do something different if you'd like."

"No, it's fine. I mean, it looks nice. It's just, that...thank you..." he mumble quietly and left the kitchen.

"I really like it, Spookie."

Nod.

"What? Ya don't believe me?"

Shrug.

"I wish ya would. You're still pretty, Vinny."

He just turned away and walked to the corner to sit.

"I love you, Vinny."

He didn't say anything. Didn't even look at me.

"It'll grow back, y'know."

'Nother nod.

I knew that that wasn't all the was hurting him, but still...

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I wish I knew how to make you feel better."

Shrug.

He made me feel really fucken sad. I couldn't let him see me cry; he'd blame himself. "I'm gonna go get somethin' to eat," I mumbled the lie and made an escape to the bathroom.


	18. Till It All Becomes Alright

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(Also, I don't like the ending, but I'm no good with endings, so oh well.)

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18. Grip The Back Of Your Neck & Slowly Move Till It All Becomes Alright. (Cid's POV)

-------------------------

"Vincent, you take good care of my Cidney, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am. I will."

My mum gave Vincent a kiss on the head, and then went for me.

"I've left you a list on the fridge: No playing with fire, no setting anything on fire, smoke _outside_, clean up after yourselves, don't get _too_ drunk, no trying to fly off the garage roof, try not to eat _too_ much junk... Is there anything else I'm forgetting?"

"No, Mum. We're fairly responsible. I'm sure if the opportunity arises, Vincent can talk me out of setting the house aflame." I glanced over at Vinny. He was looking down at the floor, trying not to smile, and fiddling with his hair. Aww, he was embarrassed.

"Okay, just be good, Cidney," my mum gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I love you. We'll call when we get to Aunt Shera's house." She gave me another hug, and after a minute, she said quietly, "I think you'd better go check on Vincent."

I looked around, but he'd disappeared on me. So my mum and I said our goodbyes, I waved one more time to Mattie in the car, and locked the front door. "Hey Vinny, where'd ya run off to?" I headed up to my bedroom, as that was the most likely place he would have been.

I was right. I found him hiding, standing behind the bedroom door. "What's up, Sunshine?"

"Nothing." He stopped messing with his hands and crossed his arms. He shook his head to try to get his hair out of his eyes. He wouldn't look at me; only at the floor. I thought he looked a little insecure. Yeah, just a little. But he was trying to keep cool.

I was about to disagree with his answer when his un-bothered act failed and he continued on his own.

"It isn't fair, Cidney."

"What isn't?"

"Your mother loves you." He wiped angrily at the tears that were trying to fall. I hugged him tightly, and listened. "She shows it all the time. She wants to give you everything she possibly can. And I would never wish anything else for you, but it isn't fair. My mother doesn't love me," he sobbed.

"Oh, Vinny," I wouldn't try to convince him otherwise, because, as horrible as it was, I wasn't sure if that would be true or not. I didn't know what to tell him. I wanted to fix everything for him, and it killed me that I couldn't. So I just held him while he cried, and told him that _I_ loved him. _I_ would give him everything I possibly could. "I know it's not the same, but it's gotta be worth _something_, right?"

He didn't say anything, but I think he nodded-I hoped he did.

"You wanna go blow something up?" I asked after he'd quieted down a bit, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit. "We can go pick up some fire crackers and some carrots," I offered.

I think he tried to laugh a bit. "Fucking hate carrots..." He looked at me. "Maybe later," he laid his head back on my shoulder. Eventually, he snuck his arms around me. "Ciddy..." I felt his tongue trail up the side of my neck, making me shiver a bit.

"No, Vincent." I gently pushed his head from my neck. It just didn't seem like the appropriate thing to do.

"Please. I want..." he kissed me.

"I can't. It'd feel like taking advantage of you or something."

"Cid, please," he brushed his cheek against mine. "I said I want to." His hand slipped underneath my shirt. "Help me focus on something that will make us both feel good." He wouldn't let me respond, kissing me forcefully, and making a noise of protest when I pulled away. "Dammit... I'll tear your clothes off if you don't cooperate," he threatened.

It was kind of scary cos I wasn't too sure if he was kidding or not.

So I cooperated, and kept my clothing intact.

"Cid, stop. Ah, stop! I don't wanna come yet..."

But, but...shit. Fine. I crawled upwards to face Vinny, trying to make sure I looked disappointed.

"I want...to fuck," a smirk pulled at his lips.

"No, don't make me do that," I begged. "What if you're not really ready for it?"

"Then I'll tell you to stop."

"It'd kill me if I hurt you."

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then am I right to trust you?"

"Well, yeah, but--"

"Then you won't hurt me."

I sighed, defeated, as he dug through the side table drawer for a condom and lube. It wasn't that I didn't want to fuck, I just worried about hurting him.

"I've never really used one of these before. I think it would be best if maybe you'd put it on yourself," he put the condom in my hand.

I nodded and sat back on my knees. I tore the wrapper open and put it on, watching as he stroked himself slowly. "Last chance to stop."

He shook his head.

"Then turn over," I said reluctantly. He did as he was told. I leaned over to kiss his shoulder, listening to his whimpering as my fingers worked to get him ready. "You okay?" I had to check.

"Mm, it feels good," he glanced back at me. Dammit, every little thing he ever did... How could such minor actions make me want him impossibly more?

I was eventually able to stop checking up on Vincent, realizing he was perfectly fine, and enjoying this as much as I was.

I forgot about my worries soon after, and got easily lost in it all. It was easy to just let the brain go numb and let the bodies take care of all the work; they usually know what they're doing in situations like these.


	19. The Halloween Jack Is A Real Cool Cat

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(Also, I don't like the ending, but I'm no good with endings, so oh well.)

(Caution: short, fluff chapter : P It seemed like a good idea at the time...)

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19. The Halloween Jack Is A Real Cool Cat. (Vincent's POV)

-------------------------

I had accidentally let it slip. It really was an accident. Cid had told me his, and I automatically told him mine, and _then_ I realized he would try to plan something and make a big deal of it. I hoped he would forget, and I thought for a while that maybe he did.

Of course Cid wouldn't have forgotten.

I awoke to a "Happy birthday, Spookie," and a tongue tracing the outside of my ear. But then it got a whole lot less sexy. "I made you pancakes!"

"Breakfast? Already?"

"Yep. Nineteen pancakes."

"But I don't think I can," I yawned and curled up against Cid's chest, "Eat a whole nineteen pancakes."

"That's why we're gonna cheat and I'm gonna help ya."

"No syrup?" I checked.

"Course not. Not for you, anyway. Now come on. Sit up and eat." Best not to argue with a man and his breakfast. So I sat up and at as many as I could, while Cid devoured the rest with that God awful pancake syrup.

"Alright. You get dressed," Cid ordered. "I'll come back up to get ya in a minute." He took the dishes downstairs. I slid out of bed and pulled on some clothes like I was instructed to do, then slid back into bed. I was just dozing off again when the door opened.

"Wake the fuck up, Sunshine!" Cid jumped onto the bed. "Dammit. You're gonna be all tired and crabby today aren't you?"

"Probably," I muttered into the pillow.

"You won't be in a few minutes. Come downstairs with me," he pulled the blankets off of me. Seemed like I didn't have much of a choice. I could either do as I was told, or have Cid nag at me all morning.

"Fine..." I followed him downstairs into the kitchen.

"We got you something," Cid said excitedly, pointing to a sitting little boy, covered up, with two legs hanging down off the chair.

"Aw, Cid, thanks. I've always wanted a Mattie underneath a sheet," I snickered.

"Oh shut up," Cid removed the sheet, and there was Mattie, holding a tiny little black kitten with an orange ribbon around its neck. Mattie held the cat out for me to take. It seemed very sweet and cuddly, and I loved it already.

"We had some issues though, uh, with deciding the name," Cid scratched his head. "It's, uh, David Bowie Robot Cat..."

"Hm. That looks about right," I laughed, holding the cat up to get a good look at him. "I've never gotten a birthday gift before," I stated the sad realization.

"Yeah, so this one had to be a damn good present."


	20. That's The

This story is about random events in the lives of Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. Some of it is meant to be silly, some of it is meant to be rather emo, some of it is just a bunch of pervy fun stuff. It'll eventually end up Cid/Vin.

Yeah, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.

(I don't own the FFVII characters.)

(Also, I don't like the ending, but I'm no good with endings, so oh well.)

(Caution: completely pointless porn in a library chapter : P It seemed like a good idea at the time...)

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20. That's The...Beeyatchhh...Holiday Robot Funk. (Cid's POV)

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I hated studying. I hated studying in the library. I hated going to the library for anything other than finding a good book to read. I hated that damn history book. I thought maybe I could try to talk Vincent into going back home. I couldn't look at that damn history book any longer.

"The fuck are you doing, Vincent?" He was staring at his laptop screen, mouth slightly hanging open.

He dragged his eyes' focus to me. "Not a thing, sir."

"Bullshit, liar." He was so not studying. Ohhh. Then it dawned on me. "You're watching porn! Aren't you?!" I asked quietly, giving him an accusatory look. "You totally are." He totally was.

"Yes," he scrunched his nose up. "I suppose I am."

"Now, you know very well that I have _no_ problem with porn." Truth. Though there was one thing I was still unsure about. "But the fucken _library_, Vincent?"

He looked around innocently. "That does seem to be where we've ended up."

"I will take you home where you can have all the blowjobs you want and all the porn you can watch, _with_ volume, I might add, and with absolutely _no_ studying to interfere." It woulda been so much more fun that way!

"But I was just clicking things, and I got off track and distracted, and, well, that's how I got here," he tried to explain.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm really not too sure."

"A little too preoccupied to think straight?" I teased, he nodded. "For fuck's sake. Lemme watch too." I scooted my chair next to his.

"Can you do that?" he pointed at the screen.

"Shit. I seriously doubt it." _No_ hands? _No_ touching? At _all_? Yeah, probably not. "Get that smartass grin off your face. You can't do that, can you?"

He just nodded, and kept that smartass grin right where it was.

"Dammit," I cursed for really no reason. I wasn't entirely sure I believed him. I mean, I _wanted_ to, but I just wasn't sure. He turned his attention back to the computer screen and clicked on a new link. "Don't you ever like watching anything else?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"All you watch are guys jacking off."

"Yes."

"No fucking? No blowjobs?"

"I do like watching those things. I just happen to prefer jacking off."

"Goddammit..."

He opened another video link. "Shut the fuck up."

So I did. That was definitely not a common Vinny phrase. I knew to take it seriously.

I watched him quickly search the website for another decent movie. This next one was kind of long compared to the others, but I guess he decided it was a good one. He sat back in the chair, propped his elbow up on the armrest, and chewed at the tip of his forefinger.

We were almost ten minutes into the video, and Vincent had all of his attention on it. I decided I also hated watching porn in libraries. Because porn is fun and all, but it gets to a point where you need to be able to get off. You're not _supposed_ to get off in libraries. I'm pretty sure it's probably illegal.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I was almost ready to tell Vincent we were going home. I wanted to go home so badly just then. Or at least to the bathroom.

He kept watching the screen though, his breathing heavy and drawn out, eyes half closed, fingers caught tight in his teeth, sometimes having to stop his free hand from wandering down. "Shit, shit..." he cursed quietly, body tensing and jerking slightly. "Shit," he sighed, leaning his head back, and composing himself.

"Did you seriously just...?"

He bit his bottom lip and nodded.

"_Seriously_??"

He glanced around the area we were sitting in before quickly sneaking a hand down the front of his pants to show me the jizz on his fingers as proof. "I do believe I seriously just."

"Oh God, no, Vincent, no, please," I watched in near horror as he slowly sucked his first finger clean. "We have to go, right now." I shut his laptop and started shoving my books into my bag. The bastard just laughed and started on his second finger. "I hate you, Vincent. I swear to God, I'm leaving right now. You can come with me and lemme have my way with you, or you can just stay here all alone. I don't fucking care, but I _have_ to go home right fucking now."


	21. Cigarettes, Ramen & A Little Bag Of Dope

Holy crap. Is there going to actually be somewhat of a running plot? There might be!  
How bad is that? The story doesn't have an actual plot for twenty chapters, and then bam. Slight, _slight _plot.  
I have a bunch more of this written, but I need to fill in a lot of the gaps. And they're the kinds of gaps that really do need to be filled in for the story to feel right to me.

And I know I skipped forward a lot, but there just hasn't been anything at all coming to mind to put before this chapter...

Thanks so much for everybody's comments and everything : D I'll do my best to respond to some of them properly, and to try and update soonish. School and all, it's obnoxious and time consuming.

(I don't own the FFVII characters. Isn't that surprising?)

(Also, must I have peanut butter in every story? I think so.)

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21. Cigarettes & Ramen & A Little Bag Of Dope. (Vincent's POV)

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"Ya know what I miss?"

"An actual bed, instead of this crummy mattress on the floor?" I know I missed that quite a bit.

"Yeah, that too... Television. It's so quiet and boring around here."

Midgar was far too different from home. But the planet was undergoing economic problems. Cid and I needed to work to support not only ourselves, but to help support his family as well. Hell, Cid's family had just as well become mine. I was willing to help them.

Though we kept in contact, we hadn't seen his mum, Mattie, or David Bowie Robot Cat in almost four years. They'd moved to Rocket Town with Cid's Aunt Shera. Travel was too expensive for us at the time.

Though we still had had each other, life just wasn't the same anymore. It was all about survival now. I'd hoped I'd never have to come to that again.

We worked long hours, Cid at one of Shinra's garages working on cars and planes and other various vehicles, and me with Shinra's Turks, killing for hire and doing the President's dirty work. So much work, so little pay.

"I miss proper air conditioning," I said as I opened the door to what was supposed to be some sort of a deck. It was really more like something Cid could stick his head out of to have a smoke.

"Just take off your clothes."

"Rapist..." I scowled as I unbuttoned my shirt. "What's for dinner?"

"Hmm..." Cid opened the kitchen cabinet. "Granola bars. Some bread. Peanut butter. Ramen noodles. Cereal. But I'm pretty sure the milk's gone bad."

"Then why the fuck haven't you thrown it out?" I looked in the refrigerator and cautiously poked at the milk carton until I had turned it enough to see the expiration date. "Cid Highwind, this went bad over two weeks ago."

"Huh." He just shrugged and stuck a spoon into the jar of peanut butter.

"You're filthy." I picked up the carton warily, quickly tossed it into the trash can, and jumped back. I don't know what I expected it to do. Explode, maybe? "Make me some ramen, you filthy bastard."

He nearly choked on his peanut butter. "The fuck is wrong with you?" he laughed and kicked at my shins playfully.

"You," I told him. "It's just, I'm gone for a couple of weeks, and, well... You'd better have cleaned the bathroom like I asked."

"I did, my love," Cid emptied the noodles into a bowl of water and stuck it in the microwave. "I kept our two square feet pretty clean. I just forgot about the milk, is all," he pouted.

"Sorry," I relented. I kissed the back of his head and put my arms around him as he pushed the buttons on the microwave.

"And I don't think we can afford milk right now, Vinny."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry."

"You're so mean to me."

"Please stop pouting, Cidney. I'm sorry."

"You're too easy, Vinny." Cid opened the microwave and tried to stir the noodles with the other end of his spoon.

"You know, I think _you're_ the one who's being mean to me," I frowned, but changed the subject. "I have three days off."

"Good," he tried to take the bowl out, but it was too hot. He handed me his spoon and went to find a hand towel. "I could use three whole days of ya. I missed your creepy face."

That made me smile.

Cid stuck a fork in the bowl. "I have to work tomorrow, but not the rest of the weekend. The noodles are hot," he wrapped the hand towel around the bowl and held it out to me.

"Thank you," I said sincerely. He shouldn't have made dinner for me. I was tired and crabby and cursing at him.

"Shut up, Turk," he grinned and took his spoon from me before sitting up on the kitchen counter. "You can have the chair."

"Sweet Shiva, we're pathetic," I laughed sadly.

"I wish we could go home..." Cid said quietly.

"Shh," but I nodded. I wanted to go home too.

"Yeah, Vinny, I'm sorry," Cid walked over toward me and sat down, straddling my lap. "I don't wanna upset either one of us." He hugged me tightly. "I love you."

"I love you too, Cidney."

"I really do. You don't get told that enough."

"You tell me all the time," I laughed.

"It's still not enough. I love you. I got you presents."

"Presents, Cid? How? I thought you said we didn't have enough gil to buy milk."

"We don't. I had to use my magic, Spookie. Present number one," he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small bag of weed. "Got it from Jimmy down at work. He was beggin' me to take over a shift for him last week. He offered me this, and I thought ya'd like it."

"Aww... You know the way to a man's heart, Captain," I told him sincerely and pulled his head down to mine for a kiss.

"Oh come on. You know I'm no captain," he blushed slightly.

"Yet," I added, deciding he deserved a second kiss.

"Second present!" Cid stood up, took my hand, and led me to the other room. "Turn around, and close your eyes, okay? It'll just take a sec."

"This isn't going to hurt, is it?" I asked cautiously, though I did as I was told.

"Well, it's not supposed to."

"What is that God awful noise, Cidney?" It was an annoying clanging, like metal against metal, but then I felt what this noisy present had to offer. "Is that what I think it is?" I asked excitedly.

"Turn around now. I, uh, I didn't know it sounded like that. But I can mess around with it. One of the managers was throwing it out this afternoon. Guess that's why." Cid was knelt down beside, and poking at, a small and noisy fan that we could set next to our bed to keep us cool at night. It would help with the heat considerably, although we would probably still have to keep the deck door open. Four years now, and it was still difficult to sleep with the city sounds of Midgar.


	22. With My Minion Fingers

What the hell? This chapter started to get a little silly (which wasn't supposed to happen), and I got a little carried away. But I was havin' fun. I'll put a little word list at the bottom of the page, since most normal people are probably not fluent in Nadsat and CB slang.

Also, Vincent's a total stoner.

(I don't own the FFVII characters. Isn't that surprising?)  
(Mikey's mine though. Mikey and his sudden Brooklyn accent that I hear in my head when he talks for some reason...)

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22. With My Minion Fingers, Working For Some God. (Vincent's POV)

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"Sir, please. Let me have this one."

"Vincent..."

"_Please_, sir," I was trailing on Tseng's tail like a puppy.

"Why, Vincent, should I let you have this one?"

"Rude doesn't need _more_ work," I argued. "And I have time for it. I _want_ it, sir. Please. I've never asked for anything from you before."

"I don't want you to ask anything of me at all," Tseng said.

"Never again, sir. Just this once," I tried to bargain.

"This isn't a regular mission for you, Vincent. Do you realize that?" he was still trying to convince me otherwise.

"Yes sir."

"He's your brother. That is not typical protocol, Vincent," Tseng almost seemed surprised.

"I _know_ that, sir, and that's why I want this hit," I explained, knowing it wouldn't exactly make sense.

"No matter how much you think you hate him now, he is still your flesh and blood, Vincent. If I send you on this mission, we run the risk of you failing to complete your duties."

"That will not happen, sir. I swear it." And it wouldn't. I swore it. I would swear it up and down again and again.

"I want to trust you, Vincent, but I will have to send Reno to accompany you." Tseng was cracking. He was gonna let me have the job.

"That's fine, sir."

"But your _brother_, Vincent. You're sure this isn't some petty sibling rivalry?"

"_No_, sir, it is _not_ some petty issue!" I realized I was almost yelling and stopped myself before I went too far. "I apologize. But this does go far beyond a simple competitiveness. Michael Valentine did things, sir, that I will never be able to forgive him for."

"If you fail this mission, you're done with the Turks," Tseng warned me.

"I understand, sir."

"Get the assignment papers from Rude. If he has any concerns about it, tell him to speak with me."

----

I went through the files carefully and thoroughly, making sure there wasn't even a hint of a reason I should let my brother live.

He never deserved that title. I was only ever one of two things to him: an irritant who kept thieving his marijuana stash, and an animate punching bag. No, Michael was not my brother. A brother was supposed to love you _just because_. Mattie was my only true sibling. Michael Valentine was the bane of my existence; not a man, not a brother, not my family.

He'd fallen into a scummier lifestyle somehow. Gambling with and swindling Shinra agents. Frequenting the whore houses while his fiancée waited for him at home. Working for Don Corneo and his mafia, killing for sport, for money and greed, coming to be a big shot gangster. He would become a threat to our President soon.

I could find nothing in his files that gave me the slightest desire to let someone else do the job. I needed this. I wanted to be the one to end his his life.

"You sure about this, yo?"

"I've never been this sure of anything, Reno."

"Yeah, but this is pretty hardcore, V². What the hell did he do to make you able to _kill_ 'im?"

"Trust me, Reno. He did more than enough." The gun was loaded, the silencer attached. The fiancée was out, and Michael would be coming home soon. "Let's head out."

Reno waited for me down the hall, while I waited in the darkness of Michael's apartment. There were a few minutes left before he was scheduled to return. I found his stash box, still kept under the bed. The combination for its lock was even the same as it was several years ago. Maybe it was too hard to change the code. Maybe he was just an idiot.

Finding exactly what I expected, I pocketed the contraband drugs for later use and replaced the box under the bed.

There wasn't much else to look at or rifle through. Most everything was packed up in boxes. Probably getting ready to move to a nice big penthouse in a better part of the city. It was a shame Michael wouldn't be alive to enjoy the new place.

"Yo, Emo Kid," I heard Reno's voice over my headset. "You got your ears on?"

I pressed the respond switch. "Copy that, Dixie Cup. Relay the message."

"I viddy him now. Kennedy's comin', Oswald." Reno was nice for a little comic relief before a mission. "Repeat, target's approaching. Bring it back."

"Roger Dodger. What's his twenty, El Taco?"

"Itty up through the front door, gooly to the elevator. You copy, Snotnosed Wanker?" Reno had once said I was his favourite to go on missions with because I was the only one who'd use his idiot speak. He couldn't even get Rude to use a mean code name every once in a while.

"Copy that, Firecrotch. Additional info?"

"Affirmative, Back Alley Whore. Seems the veck's a malenky bit pyahnitsa."

"Be fun to get him in a drat that way. Need his twenty, Florentine Harlot."

"Coming off the elevator. Bit of a walk down the hall. I give about a minute, Cousin-Fondling Pansy."

"Got a twelve, Churlish Miscreant. Sloosh him at the door. Out." I slipped into the shadows of the front hall, leading to the bedroom. Time for seriousness and concentration.

"I'll be playing dead on the by, Floozy. Give him a good pooshka in the rot for me. Eighty-eights."

Michael took his time with his keys before finally stumbling into the apartment. I don't think he was completely wasted, but more in that pleasant medium between tipsy and drunk. He shuffled right past me, humming lightly to himself.

My insides began to feel jittery. "Michael..." I was wonderfully excited.

"OhMyGodJesusFuck!" He automatically raised his arms in a surrendering fashion. I stepped toward him and rested the barrel of my gun against the back of his neck. "Hey, h-hey man," he stuttered. "What do you want from me? Money? I can getcha money. Come on, man, we can talk this out rationally, can't we? I'm a pretty reasonable guy."

"Huh-uh," I grinned evilly.

"Oh shit, man," he laughed nervously. "You're not one a'Jakey Bastoni's guys are ya? Cos I _told_ Jake, man, I _told_ him I'd have his shit to him by the end a'the week--"

"Shut up, Michael, and just spin around for me, huh?"

"Fuck, Vince? That you, man?"

"Hello, brother," I grinned. He may have still been an inch or three taller than me, and quite a bit more muscular too, but I was the one with the lethal weapon.

"What, uh, whatcha doin' here?" his eyes flicked uneasily to the gun, then back to me. "Oh, I see," he laughed again, trying to hide his worry and keep his cool, but it was easy to see through. "You're still upset about me pickin' on you when we were younger, so you found me out and now you wanna get revenge, right?"

"Nope. That's merely an added bonus. You know, I had to beg to be put on this assignment--"

"You always did like begging--"

"Because I wanted the privilege of splattering big brother's brains against the wall."

"You know you can't bring yourself to do it. You're too much of a fuckin' coward."

"If you wish to believe that, go ahead," I motioned for him to get to his knees. "But Turks don't train cowards, brother. They train killers."

"You won't do it," his voice cracked slightly. "You _can't_!"

"I can, and I will." The barrel was against his forehead now.

"No..." The fear grew plain on his face as he began to realize I might not be kidding around.

"Are you afraid to die, Michael? Afraid it'll hurt? Afraid of what might be waiting in the afterlife? Or do you worry that there's nothing else?" I almost didn't want this to end. I could have stood there forever scaring him. " I can assure you, Michael, that you will be suffering in the deepest parts of hell very, very soon."

I pulled the hammer back and grinned like a madman. Michael opened his mouth, but nothing much came out.

"Are you scared now, brother?" I asked, to which he nodded. "Ready to die, brother?" And he shook his head. "Willing to beg for your life, brother?"

"Please, Vince, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to you..."

"I don't buy it, Michael. I'll never forgive you." I shoved the gun forcefully against his forehead.

"Come on, man," his voice quivered and his eyes began to well up. "I'm gettin' married soon, gonna move into a new house. I gotta good paying job, Vince. I can set you up, man. I can get you anything, man. _Anything_. Just lemme live, and anything you want, it's yours. Please..."

"No." And then the trigger was pulled. He slumped over onto the floor. I knelt down to survey what used to be Michael Valentine. It was hard to keep a straight face, the excitement still not worn down. I felt a kind of "filling up" inside; a little less empty. I'm sure it was wrong to feel like that. But then again, so was taking his wallet. I felt no need for remorse.

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_AN: For all you normal kids, here's a glossary type thing _

_Viddy - See.  
Bring It Back - Respond.  
Twenty - Location.  
Itty - To go.  
Gooly - To walk.  
Veck - Man.  
Malenky - Little.  
Pyahnitsa - Drunk.  
Drat - Fight.  
Twelve - Got company.  
Sloosh - Hear.  
Play Dead On The By - Standing by & listening.  
Pooshka - Gun.  
Rot - Mouth.  
Eighty-Eights - Love & kisses._

_Also, South Park is getting fecking weird. This imagination episode is pretty damn hilarious. /irrelevant statement._


End file.
